BT 

Ws4 1 



PURITY AND MATURITY 






By REV. J. A. WOOD. 






PUBLISHED BY 

S. K. J. CHESBRO, Agent. 

1903. 







Glass. 



PUEITY 



AND 



MATURITY 



BY 

Rev. J. A. WOOD. 

Author of "PERFECT LOVE;' 



See and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and 
walk therein, and ye shall find rest to your souls. — Bible. 



ELEVENTH VHCUSANP 



PUBLISHED BY 

S. K. J. CHKSBRO, Agent, 
14 N. May Street, Chicago, Iu,. 

1903. 



LIBRARY *f CONGRESS! 



CLASS V ixiko 
COPY S 



Entered according: to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by 

J. A. WOOD, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



CONTENTS. 



t 

P&ge 
INTRODUCTION . ..... 9 

CHAPTER I. 

Christian Purity. 

Purity a State ok Quality op Being 23 

Bishop Foster ox Six and Deprayity 24 

Holiness ax Uncompounded Element or Quality . . . . . 24 
Dr. Chalmers ox Purity. Bishop Foster ox States and Tempers 25 

Purity implies Entirety or Completeness 25 

Holiness not expressive of Advancing Processes .... 25 

No Absolute Perfection except in God . . . . . ' . .26 

Christian Purity Defined 26 

The Entirely Sanctified Perfect in the sense of Purity . . 26 
Bishop Foster on the Elements of Holiness in the Regenerate . 26 
Bible Terms sometimes used in an Accommodated Sense ... 27 
No Perfectiox ix Degree except ix a Restricted Sexse . .27 

There is a Sexse ix which all Christiaxs are Holy axd Saxctified 28 

A Biblical Descriptiox of Christian Purity 29 

Purity as a State is rather Negative than Positive . . .29 
Purity the Negative and Perfect Love the Positive in Full Sal- 
vation . . 30 

Purity is the Soul's Health . .30 

Rev. John Fletcher. Rev. Richard Watson . . m ' - . • . .31 

Purity Consistent with Small Spiritual Power 31 

The Soul Cleansed is not Vacated 31 

The Positive is involved in the Negative 32 

The Positive Virtues all imparted in Regeneration . . 32 

Purity requisite to ax Admission to Heaven . . . . . 33 



iV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER II. 

Theological Authorities. 

Pagu 

Purity the Bible Idea and Fact op Holiness . ..... 14 

Eev. John Wesley's Views 34 

Rev. John Fletcher. Dr. Adam Clarke. Richard Watson . . 35 
Rev. Joseph Benson. Bishop Hedding . . . . • . . 36 
Bishops Hamline, Thomson, Clarke, Foster ... . 37 
Bishop J. T. Peck. Drs. John Dempster, H. Bannister . . 38 
Drs. D. D. Whedon, A. Lowrey. D. W. C. Hunttngton .... 39 
Drs. Daniel Curry, L. R. Dunn 39 

BlNNEY'S COMPEND. METHODIST CATECHISM 40 

Matthew Henry. Prof. Jacobus. Robert Hall. Dr. John Dick 4i 
Rev. G. Burder. Albert Barnes. Drs. Watts, Woethington . 42 

Drs. Harnock, Berridge, Norris . 43 

Rev. Dr. Leonard Woods 14 

Holiness no Exemption prom Temptation 45 

Purity not Incessant Rapture • 46 

CHAPTER III. 

Scripture Testimony. 

The Great Evangelical Fact op Holiness 4» 

Bible Purity Illustrated. Albert Barnes. Richard Watson . 43 
Who shall enter Heaven? John Wesley ...... 50 

Purity by Ablution. By Purgation. By Creation . . 51 

Justification and Regeneration greater than Purification . . 52 
Purity Typified by Cleansing with Water . . . . . .53 

A Fountain opened for Sin- and TJncleanness 55 

Bishop Simpson at Vineland. Rev. Jas. B. Taylor .... 56 

The Purified Soul " Whiter than Snow " 57 

Purity Spiritual Circumcision. Adam Clarke ..... 58 
Christ the Refiner. The Purified like Refined Gold . . 59 

God will not Accept Corrupt Service .61 

The Kingdom of God, "Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in the Holy 

Ghost" 62 

Purified through the Truth. Rev. John Wesley .... 63 

Death to Sin illustrated by Mortification 65 

Destruction of Sin. Life of Righteousness. Rev. Dr. Hodgk . 66 
Death of Corrupt Nature by Crucifixion. Dr. A. Clarke . . 67 
Freedom from Sin the Finished Character of a Christian . . 68 
The Author and Price of Personal Houuness .... 69 



CONTENT S. 



V 
Page 



Our Sanctification God's Will both P.ermissiyely and Authori- 
tatively 70 

Sanctified by the Holy Ghost. This Fire Metapho:: ... 72 



CHAPTER IV. 

Scripture Testimony. 

Confession Precedes Pardon and Purity 74 

Human Agency in Christian Purity 75 

Soul and Body both to be Sanctified 76 

God no Respecter of Persons. Purity by Faith . . . . .78 

Holiness Commanded and Expected . .79 

The Blood of Christ Infinitely Efficacious. Krummacher . . 80 

Christ Died to Sanctify his Church 82 

Sanctification by Faith. Matthew Henry ...... 83 

The Mighty Efficient Agent. Rev. C. H. Spurgeon .... 84 

The Infinite Merit of Christ's Blood 85 

Superiority of Christ over the Levttical Priesthood . . . 86 

The New and Living Way 87 

Christ can Save to the Uttermost . . .88 

The Instrument of Purification. Matthew Henry . . . .89 

The Fruitful Branch. Rev. John Wesley 90 

The Heart a Treasury of Good or of Evil 92 

Love the Substance and Fulfillment of the Law . . . .93 

Christ Divine, therefore Able to Save .94 

Saints Washed in the Blood of Christ 95 

Christ the Great Physician 96 

The Scriptures regarding Purity Clear, Definite and Positive . 97 

The Bible a plainly written Book . .98 

No Figure or Term used Limits the Cleansing 100 



. CHAPTER V. 
Regeneration is not Complete Purity. 
Regeneration the Commencement of Purification. Mr. Wesley 

Depravity not Sin strictly speaking 

Depravity Evil in Nature and Tendency . . . - . 
The Soul the Seat of Moral Quality. Bishop Foster 
Regeneration and Entire Sanctification not Identical 
Nature of Regeneration. Dr. John Dick. Bishop Hopkins 
Depravity and Holiness Antagonisms, and Moral Opposite s . 
Purity can not be Transmitted. Dr. Curry . . 



. 103 
. 104 
. 104 
. 105 
. 106 
.107 
. 108 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



The Testimony of Consciousness Positive and Certain ... 109 
No Combination or Composition of Inbred Sin and Holiness . . 110 
They are Antagonisms, Distinct in Nature and Tendency . . Ill 
Condemnation Consequent only upon Actual Sin . . . .113 
The Zinzendorf and Maxwell Error. Mr. Wesley . . . .113 
The Testimony of Mr. Wesley and John Fletcher . . . .114 
Dr. Adam Clarke. Bishop Hedding. Wm. Bramwell . .115 

Rev. Dr. Hodge. Dr. N. Bangs. Rev. Wm. McDonald . . .116 
Prof. Upham. Bishop Janes. Drs. Mattison, Curry, Smith . 117 
Dr. John Dick. Bishop Thomson. Richard Watson. Dr. Dempster 118 
Dr. George Peck. Bishop Foster. Disciplinary Questions . 119 

Bishop Hamline. Who have Professed Purity ? 120 

Bishop Asbury's Profession 121 

Bishop Whatcoat's Profession 122 

Why so many Lose it? Mr. Wesley 123 

Purity should be Preached Constantly, Strongly and Explicitly 123 

Grace Dominant in Regeneration 124 

Justification Negatived by Committing Sin 125 



CHAPTER VI 



Christian Purity not obtained by Growth in Grace. 



Impurity remaining in the Regenerate 

Sin and Depravity not the same. Bishop Foster. 



. 129 
Mr. Wesley 130 



Depravity Original and Acquired— Inborn and Inbred . . . 131 
Guilt involved only when Depravity is yielded to . . . .131 

Growth in Grace may abate its Force 132 

Depravity not Action or Deed. Bishop Hamline .... 133 
It can not be Imperceptibly outgrown. Dr. Steele . . .133 
The Subjugation of Depravity is not its Destruction . . .135 

The Soul Passive in Purification. Dr. Steele 135 

Dr. Hodge. Sanctification not by Moral Culture . . . .136 

Rev. Timothy Merritt on the Gradual Process 137 

Bishop Foster. Means of Sanctification 138 

Mr. Wesley. "Second Change" Instantaneous Deliverance . 140 
Depravity sometimes a Hidden and often a Latent Evil . . 141 
Dr. John Dick. Dr. Steele. Depraved Inclination . . .142 
Purity by Purgation— Ablution— Extermination— Destruction . 143 

Growth has no Cleansing Power 144 

Rev. Wm. Reddy. Weeds in a Garden. Dr. F. G. Hibbard . 145 



CONTENTS. Vli 

CHAPTER VII. 
Christian Purity not obtained by Growth in Grace. 

Page 

Inbred Sin not Removed in Parts 148 

Mr. Wesley. "The Seed of all Sin." 149 

Dr. Steele. Dr. Adam Clarke. Holiness by Gradation . . 150 
Purity by Faith. Purity and Impurity Facts of Consciousness 151 
Dr. F. Hodgson. Mr. Wesley. Growth in Grace not Enough . 152 

Growth a Naturalism. Purity not by Works 153 

Dr. F. G. Hibbard. Purity Preceded and Followed by a Gra- 
dual Work 154 

Rev. Daniel Wise. Subduing Particular Sins 155 

Inbred Sin not Improvable. Mr. Wesley 156 

Growth and Holiness distinct Things. Dk. Clarke . . .157 

Dr. G. Peck. Death of Sin. Life of Righteousness . . .158 
God requires Instant Obedience. Bishop Janes .... 160 
Conditions of Purity. Meritorious. Instrumental. Proximatk 161 
Crucifixion. Mortification. Creation. Cleansing the Leper 162 
Refining Gold — Leaven. Ablution. Bishop Peck at Round Lake 163 
Dr. Nathan Bangs. A Great Mistake. Dr. A. Clarke . . 164 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Christian Purity not obtained by Growth in Grace. 

Believers Purified at all Periods after Regeneration ... 166 

Bishop Foster. Mrs. Hester Ann Rogers 167 

Dr. F. G. Hibbard. Cleansing Baptism. Testimony . . .168 
Definite Experience of Purity. Three Things Prominent . . 169 
Me. Wesley. London Witnesses. Bishop Janes on Testimony . 170 

Rev. H. Boehm. Bishop Asbury. Pentecost 171 

Bishop Thomson. Faith for Purity 173 

Analogy between Regeneration and Entire Sanctification . 174 
Purification by Faith. Dr. Fuller. Bishop Janes . . .175 
Dr. McCabe. Consecration a Condition of Faith . . .176 

The Great Battle-Cey of Methodism 177 

Dr. F. G. Hibbard. Purity Instantaneous 179 

Israelites Crossing Jordan. Death Instantaneous .... 180 

Illustrations. Vegetable Kingdom. Leaven 182 

A Misstatement Corrected 183 

Pardon. Life. Adoption. Purity Instantaneous and Super- 
natural 185 



V1U CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Christian Maturity. 

• Page 

Life. Purity. Maturity. Dr. Nast 186 

Steps of Preparation. No Growth from Vice to Virtue . . 187 

Maturity Gradual. Mushroom Growth 188 

Key. L. R. Dunk. Pure but Immature 189 

No one Born into Maturity. Bishop Foster ..... 190 

An Apple Tree. Mr. Wesley's Definition 191 

Dr. Dempster. Bishop Foster. "Rooted and Grounded in Love" 192 

Bishop Hamline. Millions Die Immature 193 

Important Distinctions. Maturation. Total Deprayity . . 194 
A Garden — A Tree Pruned and Cleansed of Worms and Insects . 195 
"Little Children." "Young Men." "Fathers." . . . .196 

Not to Progress is to Regress. Intermingling Tares . . .197 
Dr. F. G. Hibbard. Unobstructed Growth ...... 198 

The Positive Enlightenment, Endowment and Adornment . . 199 
After Purification, Growth Rapid, Uniform and Solid . . .200 

CHAPTER X. 

Results of Purity, or of its Neglect. 

Purity Spiritual Freedom 201 

Internal Foes most Troublesome and Dangerous 202 

The Fountain open. All may Come . . . . . ... 203 

Neglecting Holiness Disobedience to God . . . . .203 

Mr. Wesley. Bishop Foster. Dr. D. W. C. Huntington . . 204 
Dr. John Dempster. Bishop Peck. Dr. Stephen Olin . . .205 

A Mistake. A Great Danger. An Objection 206 

Spurious Holiness. Human Activities . . . . . . .207 

Moral Phenomena Proclaim Moral State . . . . . . .208 

Dr. L. T. Town send. Bishop Hedding 208 

Purity Establishes Believers. Clear Spiritual Vision . ... 209 

Purity gives Weight and Spiritual Power. Bishop Simpson . 210 
A Pure Heart will Sanctify the Tongue . . . . . .. .211 

The Great Problem with Many . . . . . . . .. .214 

Purity will Cure Vacillation . . ..--'■- • - : • . . - . 217 

Dr. F. G. Hibbard 218 

CHAPTER XL 

A SYNOPSIS . . . . 219-229 

CONCLUSION 230 



INTRODUCTION. 



rpHIS book has been written with much solicitude, 
not from any doubts regarding the subject of 
which it treats; but from its practical importance, 
and the fact that there exists such a diversity of 
views concerning it. 

While the experience of purity is sweet, and rea- 
sonably plain to those who enjoy it, — as much so as 
regenerating grace : to write of it, so as to make it 
plain to those who have not experienced it ; useful 
to those who are seeking it; effective in removing 
prejudice against it, and harmful errors regarding it, 
is not an easy task. 

"Perfect Love" was written sixteen years 
since, two years after the precious Saviour fully 
cleansed my heart : this is written after much more 
time for reflection, prayerful study, and the careful 
examination of every thing available on the subject. 

I am very willing to admit, Christian Purity 

is a specialty with me, and has been for nearly 

twenty years. As much so, perhaps, as Sabbath 
a* 9 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

School work with Dr. Vincent, Church Extension 
with Dr. Kynett, or, any other specialist in the 
Church. 

I believe Christian holiness, in its true evangelical 
sense, should be the great specialty of the whole 
Church ; — that she ought to give great prominence 
to it, as the " central idea " of the Gospel. 

It is believed, if some of our very learned minis- 
ters would give more attention to Christian Purity, 
and less to some other specialties, which appear to 
consume their attention ; this subject would be re- 
lieved of much harm in their unhappy presentations 
of it. 

Even, great and learned men can not be supposed 
to know every thing, nor is it given to any one man 
to excel in every thing. It is a mistaken idea, that 
large ability and much learning exempt men from 
making great mistakes. Many, who have been re- 
garded by the world as profoundly learned, and 
were so in some things, have made some of the most 
shameful blunders, of which humanity has been the 
victim. 

In the preparation of this work, I have written 
for serious and earnest minds, to whom sin has be- 
come hateful, and holiness attractive; who always 
regard the practical side of this subject, as of the 
highest importance. 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

It has not been my design to present any novel 
notions, but to clearly state, guard, and defend what 
has been taught for centuries ; though often mixed 
with much error. I have not written, so much, for 
the learnedly critical, as for the common mass of 
Christian believers, many of whom appear per- 
plexed and mystified on this plain and intelligible 
subject. 

Experience is worth more than theory. The heart 
illuminated by the Spirit, is usually truer and safer 
as a guide through the entangled difficulties of life, 
than the head. And the soul in earnest for purity, 
will regard the plain teachings of the Bible, rather 
than his own or others' theories. To this fountain of 
truth he will find his way, — open the volume, read 
the promises, seek divine aid, and learn by expe- 
rience, that w T hosoever doeth His will " shall know of 
the doctrine" 

The Church has always prospered in her great 
work of soul saving, proportionate to adherence to 
the Bible in her teachings. An appeal to human 
philosophy has usually interrupted her work, and 
left her bleeding. The philosophy of Christian 
purity we do not attempt to teach. The meta- 
physical nature of regeneration is left a mystery in 
God's word; the same is true of entire sanctification. 
It is no province of philosophy or theology to ex- 
plain these mysteries. 



12 INTRODUCTION-, 

To those who have experienced purity, it is no 
greater mystery than regeneration ; neither is it re- 
moved any further away from the laws of human 
thought, but is as plain as any other* fact of ^con- 
sciousness. 

We use Bible terms and Bible figures in their 
commonly received sense. The Bible, I take it, is 
written for the common people, and is a common 
sense book. We are aware, some object to the terms 
we use, as too physical to be predicated of the soul. 
We cannot speak of spiritual things without using 
terms, which primarily relate to material things. 

The terms used are physical, as no others are ap- 
propriate, and because nearly all of them are given 
by Inspiration, as expressive of the work of the 
Holy Spirit in our salvation. 

The Bible terms and figures are very expressive, 
and God uses them in their common, every day 
sense, as used among men. 

While the infinite God " is a Spirit," he speaks to 
us of " the eyes of the Lord" and of " the ARM of 
the Lord" and the like, to give to us the idea that he 
sees and has strength ; yet we do not suppose that 
he has a material body with eyes and arms. 

There is no necessity of mistaking their meaning. 
They are significantly expressive of the moral state 
required, and the work wrought, as a "washing" 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

"purging" " cleansing" " mortification" u cruci- 
fixion" and the like. 

While we have no blind devotion to any special 
phraseology, we dare not abandon or repudiate 
Scripture terms standing forth so prominently in 
God's word. It is reasonable to suppose the Holy 
Ghost has given the best terms expressive of his 
own work ; and we can not, to please men, or to 
harmonize with their philosophy, relinquish terms 
sanctioned and given by God himself. 

Names are signs of things, and wherever there is 
a Bible name used, there is a thing signified by that 
name. To say there is no process, or state indicated 
by the terms — "cleansed " "purged" "washed" 
"crucified;" or "holiness" "perfection" " pureness" 
" sanctification" and "purity " is not only to contra- 
dict the Saviour; but, to pour contempt upon the 
Holy Ghost, by whose immediate inspiration these 
names were given. 

If these names do not imply a real work of God, 
and an attainable religious experience ; what better 
is the Bible than a Pagan Legend, which treats of 
imaginary things as if they were positive realities? 

As rational creatures, we desire to understand the 
experience of our hearts; and the state which 
through grace, we have obtained, or may obtain. If 
true views are not apprehended, and correct ones 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

adopted, false theories will be ; and false views often 
have a pernicious effect. 

Definiteness and clearness in religious teaching 
and experience, are of the utmost importance. It is 
to be feared the day of reckoning will disclose the 
solemn fact, that millions failed to be pure in heart, 
because of the vague and indefinite teachings of those 
who were over them in the Lord. 

Multiplied thousands are battling year after year 
with their inbred corruptions ; who, if they had 
been properly instructed and guided, would long 
since have been washed in the blood of Christ, and 
now living in established holiness. 

Where will the severest responsibility rest for the 
mixed moral state of vast numbers of partially puri- 
fied believers in the Church of God ; but upon the 
equivocal, indefinite, and but partially sanctified teach- 
ers; who like Caleb and Joshua, should be the 
leaders of the people out of their wilderness state 
into the goodly land of their spiritual Canaan ? 

Ancient Israel entered not in because of unbelief, 
and the disbelieving, distrustful spies ministered to 
it, and God smote them dead on the spot. 

What blessed results would be witnessed, if like 
Caleb and Joshua, every Christian minister would 
go into the good land himself, and courageously and 
faithfully say, — "We are well able to go up and 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

possess the good land," and thus lead the dear 
people of God into the fountain of cleansing ! 

A congregation will usually follow its leader, 
whether to the heights of spiritual enjoyment, or 
into the depths of formalism. Great reformations, 
and great defections have usually come by the 
ministry. 

It is sad to contemplate the responsibility of those 
who give the Gospel trump an uncertain sound ; and 
by vague generalities, make the whole subject of 
Christian purity fearfully indefinite. 

God, at infinite pains and precision, has set forth 
with the utmost definiteness, the privileges and duties 
of Gospel salvation. Pardon, adoption, regenera- 
tion, and entire sanctification, are specific and definite. 

The experience of the Christian Church has dem- 
onstrated, that, when the Gospel is preached to sin- 
ners in an indefinite and general way, only urging 
men to live sober, moral and exemplary lives, with- 
out setting before them the clearly defined, distinct 
blessings of justification, adoption, and regeneration, 
it has never resulted in any marked or decided suc- 
cess. This is seen in the whole history of Unita- 
rianism in this country, and German Rationalism in 
Europe. 

The opposite is seen in all evangelical Churches, 
and especially in the history of Methodism. Mr. 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

Wesley saw this, and said : — "Generally, wherever the 
Gospel is preached in a clear and Scriptural manner, 
more than ninety-nine in a hundred do know the exact 
time when they are justified" 

The same general fact is true in the preaching of 
Christian purity. Many present this subject only in 
an indefinite and general way, which neither pro- 
vokes opposition to it, nor leads anybody to seek 
and obtain it. 

Indefinite teaching of purity never leads to definite 
or positive experience of purity. 

Hence it is, that many ministers do not witness a 
clear and distinct case of entire sanctification during 
years of ministerial work. They witness the legiti- 
mate results of preaching purity indistinctly and 
indefinitely, more or less — an uncertain and dissatis- 
fied religious condition of those under their ministry. 

This subject is the most important which can en- 
gage our attention, as it deeply concerns our peace 
and usefulness, and our preparation for death and 
eternity. Many place the standard of Scriptural 
holiness much higher than the Bible. If they do 
not get it up to absolute perfection, they make it a 
degree of development and maturity almost angelic. 
Such will talk about this " high state of grace," and 
" I can never climb so high," and " If I get it I can 
never keep it." 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

We understand simple purity, as not a high state 
of grace, when compared with the privileges and pos- 
sibilities in the divine life. Purity is only the base, 
the substratum of a grand Christian life, and the 
present duty and privilege of all Christians. " With 
me (said the saintly Fletcher) it is a small thing to 
be cleansed from all sin ; but O ! to be filled with 
all the fulness of God." 

The greater part of our growth in grace, and ad- 
vancement in the divine life, should be subsequent 
to our entire sanctification ; as has been the case with 
many of the best men and women in the Church of 
God. 

We have been pained to find so much misappre- 
hension on this plain subject; that some of our 
ministers confound it with regeneration, and others 
with maturity; while many practically ignore it, 
after having declared before God, and whole confer- 
ences, that they expected to be made perfect in love 
in this life. But, in this world, every Christian 
doctrine has been perverted. No fact in history is 
more clear than this ; and it forms one of the most 
powerful proofs of human depravity. 

When we consider how every Bible doctrine has 
been abused, it may not be expected that the doc- 
trine of Christian purity will escape perversion, mis- 
apprehension, and dispute. 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

We are well aware of the bitter prejudice, appar- 
ent blindness, and mistaken notions of many of the 
opponents of this precious grace. Respecting the 
captiousness sometimes seen ; and the unhandsome 
flings made regarding it, we have nothing to say. 

We have aimed at clear and distinct teaching, 
not philosophical, but evangelical and practical ; and 
trust we have been able to avoid many mistakes 
and dangers, while keeping the plain distinctions 
between regeneration, purity, and maturity before the 
mind. 

We profess no exemption from errors of taste, 
judgment, memory, or manner; and have deeply 
felt our inability, and our liability to mistake ; and 
expect our views to stand on their own intrinsic 
merits, or otherwise, as they are seen to agree with 
the infallible Word. The subject has been examined 
with candor, diligence, and care, and with much 
prayer. 

We acknowledge some repetition, which has been 
difficult to avoid, and confine ourselves closely to the 
subject; but writing for the common mind, this may 
be useful rather than otherwise. 

I make no claim to originality. I have gathered 
truth from every available source ; and when I could 
state a sentiment, or proposition, with more precision 
and plainness in the language of another, I have not 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

hesitated to do so. The italics in many of the quo- 
tations are my own. 

The quotations made are numerous, but they are 
short, pertinent, and corroborative, and constitute a 
valuable part of the book. They are scattered 
through hundreds of volumes, many of which our 
readers will never see; having neither money to 
purchase nor time to read. 

No writer has been misquoted or perverted know- 
ingly. If it be said, some of the authors quoted 
teach sentiments contrary to the quotations given, 
and to the doctrines of this book, we have only to 
say : their quotations are correctly given, and if their 
writings do not harmonize, the responsibility is not 
ours. 

It is clear that the times in which we live call for 
a great revival of personal holiness in the Christian 
Church. The necessity of this thousands feel ; and 
thousands more are praying for it God is moving 
mightily upon the hearts of his people in all lands ; 
and his children should shake themselves from in- 
difference and lethargy, and as workers together 
with Christ, " arise and shine," and move on in holy 
triumph, evangelizing this world to God. 

I confess, while I rejoice that this doctrine and 
experience is becoming more and more the doctrine 
of the universal Church, I am nevertheless jealous for 



W INTRODUCTION. 

our own loved communion, (with a Godly jealousy, 
I trust), lest by neglect, unbelief, inactivity, or silence 
upon this most precious subject, we, who have led 
the way, and borne a consistent and worthy testi- 
mony to the possibility and practicability of purity 
in this life, should be outstripped by sister Churches, 
and it should be said — "The last shall be first, and 
the first last." 

Clear and distinct teaching of the doctrine and 
experience of holiness, has always been the peculiar 
and distinctive feature of Methodism. While it has 
been held with some clearness and accuracy, it has 
never been the distinguishing tenet of any other sect. 

" Knowing exactly what I say (says the learned 
Dr. John M'Clintock, in his Centenary Address), 
and taking the full responsibility of it, I repeat, we 
are the only Church in history, from the Apostles' 
time until now, that has put forth as its very ele- 
mental thought the great, central, pervading idea of 
the whole book of God from the beginning to the 
end — the holiness of the human soul, heart, mind, 

and will It may be called fanaticism ; but, 

dear friends, this is our mission. If we keep to 

THAT, THE NEXT CENTURY IS OURS; if We keep 

to that, the triumphs of the next century shall throw 

those that are past far in the shade There 

is our mission, there is our glory, there is our power, 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

and there shall be the ground of our triumph! 
God keep us true ! " 

O ! that our twelve Methodist Bishops, our twelve 
thousand travelling preachers, our fifty thousand 
class-leaders, and all our thirteen hundred thousand 
Church members, would respond — Amen! and 
AMEN ! ! 

And why should they not? This is the very 
doctrine which has always distinguished the theo- 
logical literature of Methodism; which has been 
most powerfully proclaimed from her pulpits, and 
most beautifully illustrated in the useful lives of 
many of her members. 

It was this precious grace which developed the 
consecrated, lovely, and useful life of the sainted 
Phoebe Palmer; and made her an evangel of 
light and love to thousands, and tens of thousands, 
on both sides of the Atlantic. "With her the doc- 
trine and experience of holiness was first, midst, last, 
and always; and her spirit was fragrant with its 
sweetness and power. She believed it, and pub- 
lished it; she professed it, and enjoyed it; and lived 
and died in its inspiring triumphs. 

The same was true in the experience, life, and 
death of our precious sainted brothers, Alfred 
Cookman, R. V. Lawrence, and George C. 
Wells, so recently among us, — whose sympathies ; 



22 INTRODUCTION. 

earnest efforts and useful lives were consecrated to, 
and greatly blest of God in the promotion of Chris- 
tian purity. 

I commit this volume to the public, with the 
prayer that it may do good, and no harm ; treating, 
as it does of the most important subject which can 
come before the human mind. I have abundant 
occasion for gratitude for the manner in which "Per- 
fect Love" has been received, and for the kindly 
notices of it by the religious press, while twenty- 
four thousand copies have been scattered among the 
people. I trust this volume will be helpful to many 
who are seeking light, and are anxious to love GcxJ 
with a pure heart fervently. 

The Authok. 

Baltimokb. 



Purity and Maturity, 



CHAPTER I. 
Christian Purity. 

CHRISTIAN PURITY is the great, prominent 
thought and fact of human salvation in the 
Bible. There is none more so, or equally so, except, 
perhaps, pardon. 

The heart, or soul, which is our spiritual being, is 
the fountain or foundation from which all conscious 
voluntary exercises proceed ; and purity ov impurity 
preceding these exercises or actions, determines their 
moral character. A pure heart is one " cleansed 
from all sin," hence it is morally " clean/ 7 unmixed, 
untarnished, — free from all pollution. 

The heart is the soul, or that which thinks and 
feels, knows and loves, and wills and acts. A pure 
heart is a pure soul — a pure man — a pure Chris- 
tian. 

Hence, purity is a state or quality of being. It is 
the inversion of our sinful moral nature, — freedom 
" from all filthiness of flesh and spirit." It does not 

23 



24 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

consist so much in a repetition of good acts, as in a 
moral condition of the soul from which all good 
actions proceed ; as depravity, or inbred sin, does not 
consist so much in vicious acts or habits, as in a state 
or quality which occasions those acts or habits. 

Bishop Foster says, sin and depravity "are dis- 
tinct the one from the other : since the depravity may 
exist without the act, and may be increased by the 
act, and the carnality may exist without the separate 
transgression to which it prompts, and is alleged to 
exist prior to the transgression." — Christian Purity, 
p. 121. 

Holiness, like truth, is a simple, uncompounded . 
element or quality, and continues unchangeably the 
same at all times, and under all circumstances. It 
can never be made any thing else in its essential na- 
ture ; being the absence of all moral iniquity, in 
whomsoever and whatever it is predicated of, in 
God, angels, or men. 

It is a pure nature, giving character and sweetness 
to our affections and activities — purity in the heart 
flowing through the life. It is not holy actions, 
primarily, which make a man holy, but a holy heart 
which makes the actions holy ; as a pure heart must 
be the source or foundation of all pure passions, ap- 
petites, and activities. "A good man out of the good 
treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things : and 



CHRISTIAN PURITY, 25 

an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth 
evil things." 

The treasure in a " good man " is holiness or the 
" divine nature" The treasure of an " evil man " is 
the u carnal mind" which is enmity against God. 
The Apostle says that Christians are " partakers of 
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that 
is in the world through lust" " The end of the com- 
mandment is, CHARITY OUT OF A PURE HEART." 

Rev. Dr. Chalmers says, " It is not purity of ac- 
tion that we contend for, it is exalted purity of 
heart." 

"Habits (says Bishop Foster) merely express 
back-lying states and tempers. When these are cor- 
rected or removed, the habits have no cause for their 
existence." — Christian Purity, p. 347. 

Purity or holiness significant of quality, implies 
entirety. It does not mean a mixture of purity and 
pollution, partly clean and partly defiled. He who 
is pardoned is fully pardoned, for all guilt is for- 
given ; and he who is " cleansed " is entirely pure, 
is " clean," free from " all iniquity," " all unright- 
eousness," "all sin," "holy and without blame." 
Verily, "The blood of Jesus Christ his son, cleanseth 
us from all sin." 

Holiness is expressive, not of an advancing pro- 
cess of growth, but of moral quality ; and has respect 
mainly to hind or quality, rather than to degree. 



26 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Ill degree, there is no absolute perfection in holi- 
ness, except in the infinite God. " Holy, holy, 
holy, is the Lord God Almighty ! " With 
Him, holiness is underived, unchangeable, unlimited, 
and infinitely glorious — the model and source of all 
holiness — "Be ye holy for I am holy." 

The sense in which the entirely sanctified soul is 
made perfect or complete, is in purity, which is the 
same in its essential nature in God, angels, and men. 

A thing may be said to be perfect when it possesses 
all the properties or qualities which are essential to 
its nature. The fruits of the Spirit are perfect when 
they exist in the soul in exclusion of every opposing 
principle, every contrary temper — perfect in quality. 
Faith is perfect when it is free from unbelief; love 
is perfect when it is free from all its opposites ; pa- 
tience is perfect when it excludes all impatience. 

Christian Purity, in its proper and evan- 
gelical SENSE, IS THAT STATE OF HEART, IN 

which all the virtues composing a real 
Christian, exist in this simple and unmixed 

STATE. 

" When a soul is regenerated, (says Bishop Foster), 
all the elements of holiness are imparted to it, or all 
the graces are implanted in it, in complete number, 
and the perfection of these graces is entire sanctifica- 
tion" — Christian Purity, p. 109. 



CHRISTIAN PURITY. 2? 

The terms perfection and holiness, significant of 
completeness or entirety, are proper to this state ; but are 
not, strictly speaking, when used in respect to 
growth and development, which are always incom- 
plete and indefinite. Perfection in one respect, and 
imperfection in another, may consistently meet in the 
same person; as he may be perfect in one sense, 
while imperfect in another. 

These terms are sometimes used in the Scriptures 
in an accommodated sense ; as applied to an advanced 
religious life, or to a developed condition of spiritual 
manhood, having regard to growth and maturity. 
The use of terms in an accommodated sense is not 
uncommon in the Bible, being occasioned by the 
poverty of language. 

The Christian graces, love, faith, peace, gentleness, 
meekness, and the like, existing without alloy in the 
purified heart, may become so established, enlarged, 
and matured by growth and development as to 
constitute us " fathers " or " mothers in Israel." 

There may be a high degree of advancement in 
love, knowledge, and power ; but to think of becom- 
ing perfect in degree, except in a restricted sense, is 
forever out of the question. 

The human soul saved of God, is capable of in- 
definite and unlimited development. There being 
no limits to the improvability of the soul, Christian 



28 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Perfection can be asserted of it only relatively ; and 
we teach only a relative Christian Perfection, modi- 
fied by the capacity and capabilities of the soul. 

There is a sense in which merely justified be- 
lievers — all Christians are denominated in the Scrip- 
tures, holy and sanctified, and these terms are occa- 
sionally applied to them. This is very reasonable. 
All Christians are legally holy, being set apart for the 
service and worship of God. All Christians are 
holy in a general sense as compared with their former 
condition, in their relation to God and his Church. 
All Christians are holy in a figurative acceptation, as 
one thing is put for another, or a part for the whole, 
which is often done in the Bible : also, because all 
Christians are regenerated, which is holiness begun — 
incipient sanctification. 

The principal and great fact in Christian holiness 
is that of purity — freedom from the pollution of sin; 
and identifying and confounding Christian purity 
with maturity, so common with many writers, is the 
occasion of this volume. 

When the " blood of Jesus Christ" "cleanseth 
from all sin," all that corruption which the Church 
of England calls " original, or birth sin, which is 
the fault or corruption of the nature of every man, 
whereby he is very far gone from original righteous- 
ness," is totally destroyed, the soul is pure. Then, 



CHRISTIAN PURITY. %V 

where there is pure love, there is no anger or malice ; 
where there is pure humility, pride is extinct ; where 
there is pure patience, impatience and fretfulness are 
not found; and where there is pure meekness all 
wrath and bitterness are excluded. 

This I understand to be the state of that Christian 
who is made " perfect in love," (i. John iv. 17), who 
is " pure in heart," (Matt. v. 8), who is " cleansed 
from all sin," (i. John i. 9), who is " without spot," 
(Eph. v. 27), who is " cleansed from all filthiness of 
flesh and spirit," (n. Cor. vii. 1 ), who has thus " per- 
fected holiness in the fear of God," (ibid.) ; according 
to the word of God, as interpreted by orthodox 
theologians generally, and by Methodist divines in 
particular. 

He is a perfect Christian in whose heart grace has 
wrought the extirpation of all that is opposed to 
grace — he, who has a pure heart 

Purity as a state, is rather negative than positive, 
being freedom from all sin. The idea of purifying 
is that of the removal of something, L e. impurity 
from the soul ; rather than the introduction of any- 
thing into the soul. Holiness is the negation of 
depravity, the cleansed state — freedom from " all 
unrighteousness," — spiritual life in "a pure 

HEART." 

Dr. Steele says in Love Enthroned, page 39 : 



30 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

" Hence the coup de grace, the death-blow which 
ends the war of love against sin, is a negative and 
limited work, to be followed by a work positive and 
unlimited. The first is the removal of all impurity, 
whether inherent or acquired ; the second is being 
'filled with all the fulness of God/ » 

As purity is the negative part of full salvation, 
perfect love is the positive. These blessings, the 
negative and the positive, are concomitant, and enter 
into the experience of the same person at the same 
time. To be " free from sin," is to be " perfect in 
love." 

Purity is the soul's health. It is being morally 
well. But what is health ? It is the absence of dis- 
ease. Purity is the absence of sin. It is a negative 
state, just as health is a negative state. Physical 
health does not consist in the size, or weight, or 
strength, or the beauty of the body j but in its free- 
dom from disease. The items named may be con- 
nected with health, but they do not constitute its 
identity. 

Purity is not the capacity, or strength, or develop- 
ment of the soul, but its freedom from sin. These 
items may be associated with purity, but they do not 
constitute its identity. 

"And, that of consequence (says Mr. Fletcher), it 
is a personal perfection, as much inherent in us, and 



CHRISTIAN PURITY. 31 

yet as much derived from him (Christ), and de- 
pendent upon him, as the perfection of our bodily 
health. The chief difference consisting in this, that 
the perfection of our health comes to us from God 
in Christ, as the God of nature ; whereas our Chris- 
tian Perfection comes to us from God in Christ, as 
the God of grace" — Last Chech 

Personal purity, or spiritual health, may consist 
with comparatively small spiritual power, perfect in 
quality, but quite limited in quantity, though propor- 
tionate to capacity. 

" Thousands of God's moral vessels (says Mr. 
Fletcher), which are perfect in their place and in 
their degree, and as such adorn God's universal 
temple, fall short of each other's perfection ; without 
being sinfully imperfect on that account. When 
differences are natural and not moral, if we call them 
sin, in many cases we charge God with the creation 
of sin." — Last Chech. 

The idea of purity is not so much what is in the 
soul, as what is not in it, — " cleansed from all sin." 
Of course, impurity is only removed from the soul 
by the positive presence and power of the Holy 
Ghost working in it. Rev. Richard Watson says, — 
" The absence of all evil is necessarily the presence 
of all good." When the soul is cleansed, it is not 
vacated. All the graces of the Spirit remain in it. 



32 CHRISTIAN PURITY, 

These positive virtues, perfect in number, were all im- 
parted to the soul in regeneration ; and the cleans- 
ing — the negative implies the positive, for when 
remaining impurity is removed, these graces remain, 
existing in simplicity, perfect in quality. 

It is thus, the positive is implied in the negative. 
When all impurity is removed, purity is inevitable, 
as the sequence. As when all unbelief is destroyed, 
then faith is exclusive. When all hatred is cast out, 
love must be perfect. Hence, there is a positive in- 
separable from the negative, and the negative in- 
volves the positive. In purification there is both a 
killing, and a quickening power. That which is holy, 
by necessity excludes that which is unholy. 

We are saved from sin or depravity by the Holy 
Spirit of God, which in purification takes, and re- 
mains in full possession of the heart. Then, after 
the negative work, the cleansing has been performed, 
and the soul is clean, it will constantly need the posi- 
tive ^part of the glorious work and energy of the 
Holy Spirit in a life of holiness. 

We know that the term holiness is sometimes used 
metonymically, to signify a positive state, as loving 
God with all the heart, and possessing all the Chris- 
tian virtues; and yet, holiness strictly speaking is 
but a negative state or blessing, consisting of the 
purification of our nature from " all uncleanness." 



CHRISTIAN PURITY. 33 

It is written, — " Holiness, without which {purity) 
no man shall see the Lord/'' This passage declares 
that a certain moral quality (purity) is requisite to 
admission into heaven. It will not be claimed, that 
beyond being " cleansed from all unrighteousness," 
which is purity, there must be growth, expansion, 
and development of the graces of the Spirit, or we 
cannot see God, or go to heaven. 

It is important to keep the negative aspect, the 
simple idea of purity — cleanliness, before the mind, 
that being the Bible fact in purification : a work 
which is of the nature of deliverance and extermina- 
tion — an interior cleansing from all unlikeness to God 

B* 



CHAPTER II. 
Theological Authorities. 

npO be cleansed from all depravity, or inbred sin, as 
it is usually called, we understand to be the 
Bible idea and fact of Christian purity. We ask 
the reader's careful attention to the quotations fol- 
lowing, as given in proof of this position. They 
will be seen to harmonize, and are an essential unit 
on this subject. 

Mr. Wesley's views are scattered all through his 
writings. The following paragraphs from his works, 
present them: — "Certainly sanctification, (in the 
proper sense) is an instantaneous deliverance from all 
sin" vol 7, p. 717. " Cleansed from all inbred pol- 
lution." — "Nothing in the soul but pure love 
alone." — "The evil nature* the body of sin de- 
stroyed." — "To perfect neaith restored." — "To sin 
entirely dead." — "A clean heart." — "Rooting out 
the seed of sin." — "A heart entirely pure." — " De- 
livered from the root of bitterness." — " The second 
blessing." — " Destruction of the roots of sin in a 
moment." — " The soul pure from every spot, clean 
from all unrighteousness." — " Nature entirely 

34 



THEOLOGICAL AUTHORITIES. 35 

changed/' — " Nothing higher than pure love." — 
H Full salvation now by simple faith." 

These and a thousand more like them are scat- 
tered through all his writings, from 1733 to 1790. 
Here the reader sees the same terms, figures, and 
modes of expression used by that great and good 
man, which we use in this book, and which are in 
common use in works on this subject. 

Rev. John Fletcher, in his Last Chech says : — 
"The same Spirit of faith which initially purifies our 
hearts when we cordially believe the pardoning love 
of God, completely cleanses them when we fully believe 
his sanctifying love." — P. 645. 

" But when I speak of the purification of the heart 
(says Dr. Ad&m Clarke), or doctrine of Christian 
Perfection, I use sanctification in the sense in which 
it has been generally understood among Metho- 
dists." — Everett's Life of Dr. A. Clarke. " What then 
is this complete sanctification? It is the cleansing 
of the blood, that has not been cleansed ; it is wash- 
ing the soul of a true believer from the remains of 
sin" — Clarice's Theology, p. 206. 

Rev. Richard Watson says, "We have already 
spoken of justification, adoption, regeneration, and 
the witness of the Holy Spirit, and we proceed 
to another as distinctly marked, and as gra- 
ciously promised in the Holy Scriptures. This is 



36 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

the entire sanctification y or the perfected holiness of 
believers" .... "Happily for us, a subject of so 
great importance is not involved in obscurity." 

The reader will note the declaration of Mr, 
Watson, that this subject is not involved in obscurity. 

Of the nature and extent of Christian purity, Mr. 
Watson says: "By which can only be meant our 
complete deliverance from all spiritual pollution, 
all inward depravation of the heart, as well as that 
which, expressing itself outwardly by the indulgence 
of the senses, is called ' filthiness of the flesh/ " — 
Institutes, vol. ii., p. 450. In speaking elsewhere of 
the work of the Holy Ghost in the soul, he says — 
"Nor terminates his sacred operations till it has 
purged from the heart of man all its stains of sin, all 
its debasing alloy of earthliness." 

Rev. Joseph Benson: "To sanctify you wholly 
is to complete the work of purification and renovation 
begun in your regeneration" — Com. I. Thess. v. 23. 

Bishop Hedding says: "The degree of original 
sin which remains in some believers, though not a 
transgression of a known law, is nevertheless sin, 
and must be removed before one goes to heaven, and 
the removal of this evil is what we mean by full sanc- 
tification." " Regeneration is the beginning of puri- 
fication. Entire sanctification is finishing that 
work." — Sermon. 



THEOLOGICAL AUTHORITIES. 37 

Bishop Hamline: "It (regeneration) is a mixed 
moral state. Sanctification is like weeding the soil, 
or gathering the tares and burning them, so that 
nothing remains to grow there but the good seed." . • . . 
"Entire sanctification removes them — roots them 
out of the heart, and leaves it a pure moral soil." — 
Beauty of Holiness , p. 264. 1862. 

Bishop E. Thomson : " The first complete step in 
salvation, after forgiveness, which pardons past sins, 
must necessarily be deliverance from sin ; and the 
soul that is not saved from sin, is not saved. The 
ROOT of sin must be extirpated from the heart" — Edi- 
torial in Advocate. 

Bishop Clarke says of sanctification — " This meets 
the essential requirements in order to salvation ; the 
defilement that unfits for heaven is washed away" — 
Repository for Holiness, Jan., 1865. 

Bishop Foster says, of the person entirely sancti- 
fied, that he is in — " a state in which he will be en- 
tirely free from sin, properly so called, both inward 
and outward" " The process of this work is in this 
order : beginning with pardon, by which one aspect 
of sin, that is actual guilt, is wholly removed, and 
proceeding in regeneration, by which another kind of 
sin, that is depravity, is in part removed, terminating 
with entire sanctification, by which the remainder of 
the second kind, or depravity, is entirely re- 
moved." — Christian Purity, p. 122. 



38 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

This statement of Bishop Foster is most admirably 
expressed, and presents the truth with much clear- 
ness. Regeneration removes some sin or pollution, 
and entire sanctification removes the corruption 
which remains after regeneration. This will be seen, 
from the authorities given, to be the Wesleyan idea 
of entire sanctification. 

Bishop J. T. Peck: — "In the merely justified 
state we are not entirely pure, . . . But in the work 
of entire sanctification, these impurities are all washed 
away, so that we are wholly saved from sin, from its 
inward pollution." . ..." Is the preparation for 
heaven nothing less than perfect holiness — the in- 
ward foes not only conquered, but slain and exter- 
minated ? We understand it so, — perfect in char- 
acter, not in development." — Central Idea, p. 52. 

Dr. John Dempster, in an admirable sermon on 
Christian Perfection before the Biblical Institute, 
said : " Do you then demand an exact expression of 
the difference ? It is this : the one (regeneration) 
admits of controlled tendencies to sin, the other (en- 
tire sanctification) extirpates those tendencies. That 
is, the merely regenerate has remaining impurity; the 
fully sanctified has none." 

Rev. Dr. H. Bannister writes of holiness, — " This 
is being ' cleansed from all sin/ from ' all unright- 
eousness '/ being proportionately holy as God is 



THEOLOGICAL AUTHORITIES. 39 

holy ;"..." that is, being entirely devoted to God 
and saved from inbred sin." — Guide. 1867. 

Dr. Whedon, in his notes on " Blessed are the 
pure in heart/' — "Here is a trait of character 
which God's Spirit can alone produce. This is sane- 
tifieation." 

Rev. Dr. Lowrey : " Entire holiness is the exter- 
mination of all sin from the soul. It is a pure, un- 
sullied heart ; it is c death to sin/ a i freedom from 
sin/ a ' cleansing from all filthiness of the flesh and 
spirit.' " . . . . " The fountain of thought, affection, 
desire, and impulse, is pure." — Positive Theology, p. 
241. 

Rev. D. W. C. Huntington, D. D., says : " Entire 
sanctification is not only a definite subject, but an 
important one. It is not another name for progress, 
or some undefined point in religious improvement; it 
is inward purity — soul harmony — full salvation." — 
Article in N. C. Advocate. 

Rev. L. R. Dunn : " It is a separation from every- 
thing vile and sinful, unclean, and impure ; in a word, 
it is separation from sin." — Holiness to the Lord, 
p. 57. 

Rev. Dr. Curry, in the debate in the New York 
Preachers* Meeting, said the believing, justified soul 
seeking purity, — " Looks by simple faith — a faith 
that recognizes Christ's all-sufficiency, — and which 



40 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

therefore seeks no kind nor degree of self-suffi- 
ciency — a faith wrought in the soul by the Holy 
Spirit, and asks to be made dean. And according 
to that faith the work is done." 

Binney's Theological Compend defines holiness 
as — "That participation of the Divine Nature, 
which excludes all original depravity, or inbred sin 
from the heart." .... "Entire sanctification is 
that act of the Holy Ghost whereby the justified soul 
is made holy" 

The Methodist Catechism teaches us : — " Sanctifi- 
cation is that act of Divine grace whereby we are 
made holy." Catechism, No. 3, is still more ex- 
plicit — " What is entire sanctification ? The state 
of being entirely cleansed from sin, so as to love God 
with all our heart and mind, and soul and strength." 
This catechism is official; it was endorsed by the 
General Conference, after having been revised by 
Elijah Hedding, Nathan Bangs, Stephen Olin and 
Joseph Holdich. In these Catechisms of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, there is no want of clearness, 
nor is there any repression of u snake-heads." 

The great American Lexicographer defines sanctifi- 
cation — " The act of making holy, .... the state 
of being thus purified or sanctified." " To sanctify, 
(he says,) in a general sense, is to cleanse, purify, or 
make holy, . . . to cleanse from corruption, to purify 
from sin" 



THEOLOGICAL AUTHORITIES. 41 

Matthew Henry says : " True religion consists in 
heart purity. Those who are inwardly pure, show 
themselves to be under the power of pure and unde- 
filed religion. True Christianity lies in the heart, 
in the purity of the heart, in the washing of that 
from wickedness" — Com. on Matt. v. 8. 

Jacobus, in his Notes on John xvii. 17:" This 
term, (sanctify) has the Old Testament sense of set- 
ting apart to a sacred service, and the New Testa- 
ment sense of spiritual purification." 

Robert Hall, — " Sin is represented in the Scrip- 
tures as defilement, pollution, and the Holy Ghost is 
represented as effecting a purifying process in the 
soul." — Sermon on Purity. 

Rev. Dr. John Dick, of the Scotch Church, in his 
Lectures on Theology, said, — "When we say, that 
those who are justified by faith, are also sanctified, 
our meaning is, that they are made holy, not merely 
by consecration to the service of God, but by the in- 
fusion of his grace which purifies them from the 

POLLUTION OF SIN." 

" Sanctification (says Dr. Scott, the Commentator) 
is to have soul, body and spirit, every sense, member, 
organ, and faculty, completely purified, and de- 
voted to the service of God." 

Rev. George Burder, in his Village Sermons^ — 
u Holiness is that purity of a man, in his nature, in- 



42 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

filiations, and actions, which is an imitation and ex- 
pression of the Divine image." 

Rev. Albert Barnes says : " To sanctify means to 
render pure, or to cleanse from sins" . . . . " Who 
seek not only to have the external actions correct, 
but who desire to be holy in heart, and are so." . . . 
" The general meaning is, that in regard to any and 
every sin of which we may be conscious, there is 
efficacy in the blood to remove it, and to make us 
wholly pure. There is no stain, that the blood of 
Christ cannot take it entirely away from the soul" — 
Notes on John xvii. 17, Matt. v. 8, I. John i. 7. 

Rev. Dr. Watts, in his work on the World to 
Come, writes on holiness, — " It is not only a con- 
science purged from the guilt of sin, by the blood 
of Christ, but a soul washed also from the defiling 
power and taint of sin, by the sanctifying Spirit, that 
is necessary to make us meet for the heavenly in- 
heritance." 

Dr. Worthington : — "Whoever loves God above 
all, and places his chief happiness and delight in 
him, is truly holy, not only will be so as to the effect, 
but really is so by the possession of this disposition. 
.... And when it is complete and triumphant, en- 
tirely free from the mixture of any baser passion, HE 

IS PERFECT IN HOLINESS." . . . " But if, Oil the 

one hand, we suppose that nature shall by degrees 



Theological authorities. 43 

I > so refined by grace, as at length to be wholly 
i\ covered from its present disorders ; then all diffi- 
culties immediately vanish, and we may easily ap- 
prehend what is meant by Christian Perfection in its 
full extent." — Worihington on Redemption. 

In Harnock's Crucified Jesus, is the following 
strong and beautiful clause : — " Surely the blood of 
the Holy Jesus cleanseth from all sins, it i washes 
whiter than snow/ Fuller's earth is not to be com- 
pared with it, though the sinner wash himself with 
nitre, and take much soap to purify his soul, yet 
that will not take away one spot, still his iniquity 
wJll be marked before God, but the blood of Christ 
will make him clean, so clean that no wrinkle shall 
appear in him? 

" To sanctify (says Berridge) in a general sense is 
to cleanse, purify or make holy. It is derived from 
the Latin sanctus, holy, and facio, to make. In par- 
ticular, it implies to cleanse from corruption, to purify 
from sin" 

In Norris on the Love of God, is the following 
clear and evangelical description of Christian Purity : 
"And how pure and chaste must that soul be, that 
is thoroughly purged from all created loves, and in 
whom the love of God reigns absolute and unrivalled, 
without any mixture or competition. How secure 
must he be from sin, when he has not that in him 



44 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

(inbred sin) which may betray him to it. The 
tempter may come, but he will find nothing in him 
to take hold of; the world may spread around about 
him a poisonous breath, but it will not hurt him, THE 

VERY CLEANNESS OF HIS CONSTITUTION will guard 

him from the infection." 

Dr. Leonard Woods, of the Andover Theological 
Seminary, asserts that devout Christians and ortho- 
dox divines have in all ages maintained this precious 
doctrine, and says for himself, that no truth has been 
more familiar to his mind or more zealously incul- 
cated in his preaching or conversation than, " that 
the Saviour has made provision for the entire deliver- 
anee of his people from sin; that the Gospel contains 
a remedy for all our spiritual diseases ; that there 
is a fullness in Christ adequate to supply all our 
needs." — Bib. Repos., Jan., 1841. 

The reader will see that all these quotations, how- 
ever different their phraseology, are an essential unit : 
teaching that purity is a state of being " cleansed 
from all sin ; " that sanctifieation is a work wrought 
in the justified believer, begins where regeneration 
terminates, and is the removal of the inherent cor- 
ruption, or natural bias to sin consequent upon the fall 
of Adam. 

Hence the simply regenerate believer finds in 
himself the natural propensity to sin, inherent from 



THEOLOGICAL AUTHORITIES, 45 

the fall, developing itself in his heart. The blood 
of our Lord Jesus Christ was shed to cleanse away 
this inborn depravity. These truths lay the base 
for seeking purity in the blood of Jesus, which 
" cleanseth from all sin." 

Much of the confusion prevalent upon this subject, 
arises by removing it from the clear grounds of 
Scripture and common sense, into the dark regions 
of speculation and imagination. To many it is a 
dream of ecstasy, — of incessant rapture, or freedom 
from temptation and liability to sin, or exemption 
from infirmities and error, or the end of all progress 
and development. 

Whereas, purity is simply a state which is now 
possible through grace, and harmonious with all the 
great facts of fallen human nature and probationship. 
Sanctification is no more mystical, to those who have 
experienced it, than regeneration. It is no more so 
than any other experience or state of consciousness. 

Though the soul is redeemed, and freed from de- 
pravity ; it is not on that account freed from trial 
and temptation, or liability to sin and fall. After 
the heart is fully cleansed, it is still in a world 
^bounding with evil. It still possesses five senses 
which are avenues of temptation. Satan still goes 
about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may de- 
vour. Adam and Eve were tempted and fell in 
Paradise. Even our Holy Saviour was tempted. 



46 C&RlSTTAtf PURITY. 

If temptation is incompatible with purity, then 
the blessed Saviour was impure. He was " in all 
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." If 
temptation is incompatible with a holy nature, then 
Adam and Eve were unholy before their fall. 

A liability to temptation is an essential condition 
of probation ; and so long as we are in this world, 
whatever our moral state, we may expect to be 
tempted. Let it be borne in mind, however, it is no 
sin to be tempted, provided proper caution has been 
used to avoid unnecessary occasions of temptation. 
Sin consists in yielding to temptation. So long as the 
soul maintains its integrity, so that temptation finds 
no sympathy within, no sin is committed, and the 
soul remains unharmed, no matter how protracted or 
severe the fiery trial may prove. 

As to ecstasy, it is clear that the human mind in 
its present condition, could not endure incessant rap- 
ture. Excessive or continuous ecstasy would soon 
rasp and shatter the nervous system, and be in- 
jurious and unhealthful to soul and body. In 
heaven it will be otherwise, and eternity will be long 
enough for our enjoyment. We must be satisfied 
here with deep, constant "peace like a river" 

Possibly, it may please Christ, that we should 
have more or less, a mingled cup here, — that we 
should suffer with him here, that we may be glorified 
with him hereafter. 



THEOLOGICAL AUTHORITIES. 47 

Reader, be holy ! It is your richest inheritance. 
Young men, be holy ! This is your joy, your 
strength, and your safety. Young ladies, be holy ! 
This is the precious grace you most need. Sunday 
School Superintendent and Teacher, be holy ! How 
can you do your whole duty without it ? 

Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Luth- 
erans, Episcopalians, and Methodists, let us all 
bs holy ; then shall the Protestant Church be 
mighty through God to the " pulling down of strong- 
holds," and the setting up the Kingdom of Christ 
in all the Earth. 



CHAPTER III. 
Scripture Testimony. 

CHRISTIAN PURITY, as the great evangelical 
fact of holiness, — the extirpation of all sin in 
principle from the soul, or the absence of all pollu- 
tion in the heart of a believer, stands forth promi- 
nently through all the Scriptures. In this, and the 
following chapter we shall give a few of the many 
passages teaching this truth, with brief comments on 
each. In the expositions given, we acknowledge 
assistance from Clarke, Benson, Henry, and the 
principal Biblical expositors of the Church. 

1. " Blessed are the pure in heart, for 

THEY SHALL SEE GOD " — Matt. V. 8. 

To be pure, is literally to be clean, clear, and un- 
mixed, It is applied in the Scriptures to " linen," to 
" water/' and to "gold." "Pure and white linen " 
is untarnished and unstained linen. " Pure water" 
is that which is clean and clear. " Pure gold" is 
that which is unmixed and without alloy. — Hel. x. 
22, Rev. xv. 6, Rev. xxi. 18. 

48 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 4J 

A " pure heart " is one that is cleansed from all 
indwelling sin, and is morally clean and right before 
God. The heart is the. seat of moral action — the 
seat of virtue or of vice, of sin or of holiness. It 
is that in man of which moral character, or moral 
quality may be predicated ; and it cannot be clean 
until all inbred sin is removed by the cleansing 
blood of Christ. In the pure heart all the Christian 
virtues exist to the exclusion of their opposite vices ; 
as love without hatred, submission without rebel- 
lion, faith without unbelief, humility without pride, 
meekness without anger, patience without impa- 
tience, and peace with no strife. 

Rev. Albert Barnes says in his notes on this pas- 
sage, — " That is, whose minds, motives, and prin- 
ciples are pure. Who seek not only to have the 
external actions correct, but who desire to be holy 
in heart, and who are so" 

Richard Watson in his Exposition, says : " In the 
heart lies the true fountain of evil ; and there the 
sanctification of man must begin and be completed. 
.... It implies, also, the extirpation of all unholy 
desires, imaginations, tendencies, and affections. . . . 
A nature, to use St. Paul's words, l sanctified 
wholly,' to effect which, entire sanctification of 
man, is the peculiar and glorious work of the Holy 
Ghost, through the Gospel." 



SO CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

A heart in every thought renew'd, 

And full of love divine ; 
Perfect, and right, and pure, and good, 

A copy, Lord, of thine. C. Wesley. 



2. " Who shall ascend into the hill op the 
Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place ? 
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. ' ' 
— Ps. xxiv. 3. 

" Clean hands" indicate freedom from all bodily 
or outward sins; including all filthy conversation, 
all gross or dishonest acts, and all pollution of the 
flesh. A "pure heart" implies a cleansing further 
back and deeper down than outward purity; the soul 
itself washed from all defilement so as to be free 
from all impurity, resulting in an irreproachable 
conscience and a holy life. 

This query of Solomon, Rev. John Fletcher 
evangelically answers thus : — " The man in whom 
thy father David's prayer is answered — ' Create in 
me a clean heart, O God'; the man who has re- 
garded St. James' direction to the primitive Solifi- 
dians,— l Cleanse your hearts, ye double-minded,' — 
the men who have obeyed God's awful command, 
' O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from iniquity, that 
thoumayest be saved,' — the man who is interested 
in the sixth beatitude, ' Blessed are the pure in 
heart, for they shall see God,' — that man, I say, can 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 51 

testify to the honor of the blood which cleanseth 
from all sin, that he has made his heart clean." 

Purge me from every sinful blot, 

My idols all be cast aside, 
Cleanse me from every sinful thought, 

From all the filth of self and pride. C. Wesley. 

8. "Wash me thoroughly from mine ini- 
quity, AND CLEANSE ME FROM MY SIN 

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean : 

WASH ME, AND I SHALL BE WHITER THAN SNOW. 

. . . Create in me a clean heart, O God." — 
Ps. li. 

If one sin, or any sin can be washed away by the 
blood of Jesus, so can all. If this is not so, we ask, 
from how much sin can it cleanse, and how much 
can it not cleanse ? Who can draw the line of de- 
marcation? Certainly the Bible makes no limit. 
If one stain of depravity can be removed by the 
atonement, so can every one. The greater implies 
the less. "He that spared not his own Son, but 
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with 
him also freely give us all things?" — Rom. viii. 32. 

Justification, regeneration, and adoption, all 
things considered, are much greater than purifi- 
cation. Mr. Watson says, — " Regeneration which 
accompanies justification is a large approach to this 
state of perfect holiness." 



52 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Dr. Adam Clarke says, — " Justification is far 
greater than sanctification." After this statement, 
and after describing sanctification, he adds — " Great 
as this work is, how little, humanly speaking, is it, 
when compared with what God has already done 
for thee."— Clarke's Theology, p. 206. 

Justification and regeneration, including our 
change to the divine government and law, and the 
change wrought in us, are much greater than that of 
"perfecting holiness," or entire sanctification. In a 
judicial point of view, no change can exceed that 
which occurs when God pardons our sins. The 
inward, conscious experience of those entirely 
sanctified sometimes appears much greater than in 
regeneration : nevertheless, with many even this is 
not the case. 

We all know that valuable garments may become 
soiled and stained, and that there are substances 
which, when properly applied, will remove every 
spot, purge out every stain, and extract every im- 
purity so that they become clean and beautiful 
again. This truth in natural things is analogous to 
God's work in the economy of grace ; whereby the 
immortal soul, stained with sin, can be washed and 
made "whiter than snow" 

"If the blood of Christ (says Matthew Henry), 
which cleanseth from all sin, cleanse us from our sin, 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 53 

then we shall be clean indeed. If we be washed in 
the 'fountain opened,' we shall be whiter than 
snow." The prophet Isaiah said, the Lord saith, 
" Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool. ,, 

"Create in me a clean heart, O God." Creation 
is God's prerogative. Here is purity by creating 
power. He who created the world by the " word of 
his power," as God of nature, can, as "the God of 
all grace," by "the word of his power," create in us 
clean hearts — "created anew in Christ Jesus." 

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." 
This has reference to the cleansing of the leper by 
sprinkling water or blood upon him with a bunch 
of hyssop. The Apostle calls the blood of Christ 
"the blood of sprinkling/' which purges the "con- 
science from dead works, to serve the living God." 

Enter thyself and cast out sin; 

Thy spotless purity bestow; 
Touch me and make the leper clean, 

Wash me and I am white as snow.— 0. Wesley. 

4. "Then will I sprinkle clean water 

UPON YOU, AND YE SHALL BE CLEAN ; FROM ALL 
YOUR FILTHINESS, AND FROM ALL YOUR IDOLS 
WILL I CLEANSE YOU ... I WILL ALSO SAVE YOU 
FROM ALL YOUR UNCLE ANNESSES."-JEfee&. XXXvi. 25. 



'54 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Here we have the influences and work of the 
Holy Spirit typified by water, whose property is to 
cleanse, whiten, 'purify, refresh, render healthy and 
fruitful. As water cleanses, its emblematic sense is 
often and chiefly that of purity. This was its 
ancient ritualistic sense in the Mosaic economy, 
when purifications were by water, or by blood. 
Expiation was by sacrifice, and purification by water 
and by blood. These were types of the atoning 
blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit's most gracious 
operations — the New Testament privileges. 

Believers receive pardon— -justification— through 
the merits of Christ, and purity — sanctification — 
through the efficacious blood of Christ. 

If, under the blessing and presence of God, the 
waters of rivers and streams, as Jordan in the case 
of Naaman, and the Pool of Bethesda, could be 
made to cleanse from the most loathsome and in- 
curable disease ; shall not the precious blood of 
Christ cleanse from all sin? 

God, in infinite mercy, has made ample provision 
for both our pardon and purity. He not only 
promises to forgive and remove the guilt of our sins ; 
but to cleanse and remove the pollution of sin from 
our nature : to effect a good work in us, as well as 
to do a good work for us. "Ye shall be clean." 

" From all your filthiness, and from all your idols 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 55 

will I cleanse you," from every sort of internal and 
external pollution. As Naaman was cleansed of 
his leprosy in Jordan, which leprosy was a type of 
indwelling sin, so Christ will " sprinkle clean water 
upon you, and ye shall bb clean," that is, cleansed 
from all pollution of nature or spirit. 

How strong and positive the declaration, " I will 
also save you from all your uncleannesses" 

Here is the salvation, which is the birthright of 

every Christian, — the complete destruction of all 

sin, — the removal of all impurity from the soul. 

" I will sprinkle you with water, 
I will cleanse you from all sin ; 
Sanctify and make you holy ; 
I will dwell and reign within." 

5. " In that day there shall be a foun- 
tain OPENED TO THE HOUSE OF DaVH) AND TO 
THE INHABITANTS OF JEKUSALEM FOR SIN AND 
UNCLEAlTtfESe," — Zeck xiii. 1. 

" In that day/' that is, in the Gospel day there 
shall be "a fountain opened " — provision made for 
the cleansing of the human soul. This fountain 
opened is the blood and atonement of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who shed forth "both water and 
blood" for cleansing. He is the Rock smitten, 
which is to our race " the fountain of living waters" 

Blood and water as we have stated, were instru- 



56 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

ments of purification under the law, which showed 
that man needs both pardon and purity in order to 
salvation. This was seen on the cross. The fountain 
of water and of blood was opened at the same time. 
St. John saw the soldier pierce our Lord's side, and 
there came out " water and blood." He refers to it 
in his Epistles. "This is he that came by water 
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, 
but by water and blood." Thus Christ opened the 
fountain for 'pardon and purity. This fountain is 
now open for us, and if we are not made clean it is 
our own fault. Mark, it is a " fountain " ! "A 
fountain opened ; " ever flowing and over-flow- 
ing ! It is a fountain opened "for sm" and "for 
uncleanness " — for the removal of both guilt and 
pollution. 

Bishop Simpson said in an address at Vineland : 
4< Have you a single stain upon your heart? Come 
to the fountain. Have you trouble and sorrow ? 
Come at once to the Saviour and receive joy and 
comfort ; for, thank God, there is room in His heart 
for all. How many have stepped into the fountain 
already, and found it a sovereign balm for every 
sorrow and defilement ! Thank God, cleansin j 
power is there still ! " 

Rev. James Brainard Taylor wrote to his sister 
after God cleansed his heart, — "I have been in the 
fountain and am clean." 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 57 

All may come ! It is inexhaustible ! " The 
Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that 
heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. 
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life 
freely." " Wherefore he is able also to save them 
to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, 
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." 
Though ten thousand times ten thousand thousands 
have washed their robes and made them white in 
the blood of the Lamb, the fountain is still open and 
infinitely efficacious. 

There is a fountain filled with blood 

Drawn from Iramanuel's veins ; 
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, 

Lose all their guilty stains. Cowper. 

6. " Come now, and let us reason together, 
saith the Lord: though your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; 
though they be red like crimson, they 
shall be AS wool." — Isaiah i. 18. 

Scarlet is known to be one of the most indelible 
colors, so much so that many paper-makers do not 
purchase scarlet rags, because the color cannot be 
extracted. This color is here used to represent the 
fearful dye or stain of sin in the human soul. 
Original and actual sin have made a ruinous stain, 
taint, or pollution upon the human spirit, which 



58 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

nothing can remove but the blood of Christ. His 
blood can remove all the guilt of sin, original or 
actual, and cleanse the soul from the inbeing of 
every stain or pollution. 

This passage teaches, as our duty and privilege, so 
complete a purification that not a stain is left. To 
be made "as white as snow," and even "whiter than 
snow," is to be truly "cleansed from all sin." 

My heart, which now to thee I raise, 
I know thou canst this moment cleanse ; 

The deepest stains of sin efface, 
And drive the evil spirit hence. G. Wesley. 

7. " And the Lord thy God will circumcise 
thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to 
love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 
and with all thy soul, that thou mayest 

LIVE." — Deut. XXX. 6. 

Dr. Adam Clarke says, — " The circumcision of 
the heart implies the purification of the soul from 
all unrighteousness. Hence the Apostle says — 
' Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and 
not of the letter ' — ' in the putting off the body of 
the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.' " 
The marginal reference refers to the passage in 
Ezekiel — "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon 
you, and ye shall be clean," &c. 

This passage stands correlated to the great com- 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 59 

mandment of both Testaments — " Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." 

Thus what God commands us to do, he will enable 
us to perform. No man can complain of inability 
to observe this commandment, on which hang all the 
law and the prophets, in view of the promise of God 
in this passage, and in the 36th chapter of Ezekiel, 
where he says, "I will put my spirit within you 
and cause you to keep my statutes, and ye shall keep 
my judgments and do them." Divinely provided, 
gracious ability, is the foundation of our obligation 
to obey God. 

Lord, I believe thy power the same, 
The same thy truth and grace endure; 

And in thy blessed hands I am, 
And trust thee for a perfect cure. C. Wesley. 

8. " For he is like a refiner's fire, and 
like fullers' soap. and he shall sit as a 
refiner and purifier of silver : and he shall 
purify the sons of levi, and purge them as 
gold and silver, that they may offer unto 
the Lord an offering in righteousness." - 
Mai iii. 2, 3. 

Humanity is polluted. Christ is the great Refiner. 
For this end he gave himself for the Church, that 



60 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

he might " sanctify and cleanse it by the washing 
of water by the word," and "purify unto himself 
a peculiar people." 

In this passage the most valuable metals are used 
to illustrate the purification of the human soul. 
God values the soul as man values gold and silver, 
and his process of purifying it is analogous, hence 
we are said to be " purged as gold." Christ like a 
" refining fire " separates the dross from the gold, the 
precious from the vile; or like " fullers' soap," he 
extracts every spot or defilement from the garment. 

He cleanses his people from all corruption, like 
refined gold, without alloy. He washes away every 
spot from without, and purges all the dross from 
within. 

As a refiner he purges them with fire, as gold and 
silver are purged. Fire being more intensely 
searching and purifying than water, it goes through 
the soul, a sanctifying flame — as "The spirit of 
burning," consuming all its corruptions. 

" He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and 
with fire," — that is, "with the Holy Ghost" work- 
ing like fire. The silversmith, with his silver in the 
crucible, heats and melts it until the dross is sepa- 
rated and consumed; and until the pure silver pre- 
sents a mirrored appearance. When the refiner can 
clearly see his face in the silver, he knows the refin- 
ing is complete 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 61 

Thus the mighty Spirit of Christ pervades and 
melts the soul, removes all its dross and makes it 
pure, so as to reflect fully his own precious image. 

O that in me the sacred fire 

Might now begin to glow! 
Burn up the dross of base desire, 

And make the mountains flow! C. Wesley. 

9. "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine 
altar ; and ye say, wherein have we pol- 
luted thee ? . . . . and if ye offer the blind 
for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye 
offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?" — 
Mai i. 7-8. 

God will not accept corrupt service. With offer- 
ings of "polluted bread," or with "the lame," "the 
blind," "the torn," "the sick," God is not pleased. 
Our bodies and souls, our services and praises must 
be offered from pure hearts, from correct motives, 
and in a right spirit. He will accept no service 
or offering " in unrighteousness" " I beseech you, 
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye 
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accept- 
able unto God, which is your reasonable service." 

O grant that nothing in my soul 
May dwell, but thy pure love alone! 

may thy love possess me whole, 
My joy, my treasure, and my crown ! 

Strange flames far from my heart remove, 

My every act, word, thought, be love.— (7. Wesley. 



62 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

10. "For the kingdom of God is not 
meat and drink; but righteousness, and 
peace, and joy in the holy ghost." — rom. 
xiv. 17. 

The Apostle here gives the very essentials and 
essence of Christianity. The items named consti- 
tute its foundation and superstructure, its life and 
its soul. To produce them in the human heart and 
life is the great design and object of the Gospel. 

Mr. Watson says, — " Holiness rather expresses 
the renewed state and habit of the soul ; and right- 
eousness, all those external fruits which spring from 
it, whether of piety, justice or mercy." 

"In the Holy Ghost," that is, produced by the 
Holy Ghost, as St. Luke says of the Gentiles— 
" Being sanctified by the Holy Ghost." " He that 
in these things," in "righteousness, and peace, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost," u serveth Christ, is 
acceptable to God, and approved of men," Dr. 
Adam Clarke says, "This is a genuine counterpart 
of heaven, righteousness without sin, peace without 
inward disturbance, joy without any kind of 
mental agony or distressing fear." 

Come in this accepted hour; 

Bring thy heavenly kingdom in; 
Fill us with thy glorious power, 

Rooting out the seeds of sin. J Wesley. 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 63 

11. " Sanctify them through thy truth ; 
thy WORD is truth." — John xvii. 17. 

Here our Lord prays for the purity of his dis- 
ciples, and not only for them, but "for them also 
which shall believe on him through their word" — 
all Christians. Those whom Christ prayed 
for, doubtless like all justified believers, were al- 
ready saved in part, and he prayed that they might 
be sanctified — purified. 

Mr. Wesley on this verse says, — " It means, per- 
fect them in holiness by means of thy word." 

It is clear, they needed a further cleansing to com- 
plete their purity or sanctification. To accomplish 
this, Christ consecrated himself, and offered himself 
without spot to God that his people might be made 
holy. It is because Christ shed his blood and died, 
that any soul can be made pure and fit for the 
Kingdom of God. While without " the shedding 
of blood," there is no remission — pardon of sins, so 
without the meritorious efficacy of atoning blood, 
there is no " cleansing from all unrighteousness." 

The primary signification of the term sanctifica- 
tion is purity. When applied to the body, or any 
physical object, such object may be said to be sane* 
tified, when in a state wholly free from defilement 
or pollution. As the idea of purity in a sense still 
higher, attaches to anything pertaining to religion, 



64 CHRISTIAN' PURITY. 

any object is, in this sense said to be sanctified, 
when it is purified and consecrated to religious uses. 
In this sense God sanctified the Sabbath. In this 
sense, also, the ancient Temple, with all its vessels 
and appurtenances, was sanctified. 

As holiness is purity in the highest sense, and 
depravity, impurity in the worst conceivable sense, 
a Christian may be said to be sanctified when in a 
state of separation from "all unrighteousness." 

Our moral voluntary powers are sanctified, when 
they are cleansed from all defilement, and when their 
action is in complete harmony with the will of God. 
Our sensibility is sanctified, in a Bible sense, when 
washed in the blood of Christ, and brought by the 
grace of God into such relation to the action of sanc- 
tified will, as to harmonize in inclination or impulse 
with it, and not to oppose it. Any department of 
our nature is sanctified, when its action is in har- 
mony with that of a will entirely sanctified to God. 
"Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy." 
This purity is through the truth. God's truth is like 
fire. " Is not my word like fire ? saith the Lord." 
When correctly presented it searches, illuminates, 
quickens, melts, and refines and transforms like fire. 

Thy sanctifying Spirit pour, 

To quench my thirst, and make me clean ; 
Now, Father, let the gracious shower 

Descend, and make me pure from sin. (7. Wesley 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 65 

12. "Mortify therefore your members 
which are upon the earth; fornication, 
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil 
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is 

IDOLATRY." — Col. iii. 5. 

To mortify means to put to death. By " mem- 
bers," we are to understand, all the lust and corrup- 
tion of our heart and nature — all remains of the 
carnal mind unpurged from the soul. 

The doctrine of this scripture is that of death to 
sin, illustrated by the process of mortification. It is 
clear that these Colossians, though in a state of 
grace, had the remains of corruption to be destroyed 
by mortification. 

That the remains of the " carnal mind," cleave 
to merely justified believers, runs through all the 
Epistles of St. Paul. The "perfecting of the 
saints" implies the extirpation and death of all 
remaining carnality — evil passions or propensities 
of our nature. 

See, Lord, the travail of thy soul, 
Accomplish^! in the change of mine ; 

And plunge me, every whit made whole, 
In all the depths of love divine ! C. Wesley. 

13. " Who his own self bare our sins in 
his own body on the tree, that we, being 
dead to sins, should live unto righteous- 



66 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 



91 



NESS ; BY WHOSE STRIPES YE WERE HEALED. — 

I. Pet ii. 24. 

The work of grace in the soul is usually pre- 
sented in the Scriptures as embracing two leading 
ideas. First, the death or destruction of sin, and 
second, the spiritual resurrection or life of grace. 
In this passage we have both these great items 
stated — the death of sin, and the life of righteous- 
ness. To be dead to a thing morally, is to have 
nothing to do with it ; to be totally separated from 
it; to be free from, or beyond its power, control, or 
influence. "He that is dead is freed from sin" — 
that is, is free from its power, dominion, and inbeing. 

Rev. Dr. Hodge's comment on being " dead to 
sin," is that, it is having no more to do with sin 
than the people buried in the Trinity Churchyard 
have to do with the life that rushes daily along 
Broadway. 

" By whose stripes ye were healed." The Apostle 
here refers to Isaiah liii., which has regard to the 
sacrificial death of Christ; by whose stripes the deep 
and inveterate wounds and disease inflicted by sin 
on the soul may be healed. " Likewise reckon ye 
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin; but alive 
unto God through Jestfs Christ our Lord." 

Jesus, a word, a look from thee, 

Can turn my heart and make it clean ; 

Purge out the inbred leprosy, 
And save me from my bosom sin. C. Wesley. 



scripture testimony. 67 

14. " Knowing this, that our old man is 
crucified with him, that the body of sin 
might be destroyed, that henceforth we 
should not serve sin. for he that is dead 

IS FREED FROM SIN." — Eom. vi. 6, 7. 

The "old man " is our corrupt and depraved na- 
ture, derived from Adam, born and bred with us. 
This is to be crucified. The " body of sin " is the 
whole mass of our corruption, or vicious nature with 
its sinful passions and lusts. This is to be des- 
troyed — " that the body of sin might be destroyed." 
When our nature is fully sanctified, the remaining 
rudiments of the " old man which is corrupt, is put 
off with his deeds," so that God causes our " iniqui- 
ties to pass from us." He who can raise the dead 
soul to life, can easily destroy all the interior antag- 
onisms to that life. 

Dr. Clarke says on this passage, — "From all 
which we may learn that the design of God is to 
counterwork and destroy the very spirit and soul of 
sin, that we shall no longer serve it, no longer be 
its slaves. . . . Our body of sin is destroyed by 
this quickening Spirit, that henceforth we should 
live unto Him who died and rose again." 

I need the love, I need the blood, 
I Heed the grace, the cross, the grave, 

I need the resurrection power, 
A soul like mine to purge and save. Dr. Bonar. 



68 christian purity, 

15. "Being then made free from sin, y^ 
became the servants of righteousness. . . . 
For when ye were the servants of sin, 
ye were free from righteousness. . . but 
now being made free from sin, and become 
servants to god, ye have your fruit unto 
holiness, and the end everlasting life." — 
Rom. vi. 18, 20, 22. 

Being "free from righteousness " is the finished 
character of a sinner ; so freedom "from sin " is 
the finished character of a true Christian. 

The doctrine taught by the Apostle here, is, that 
as believers have been universally polluted — " free 
from righteousness," so God would have them en- 
tirely cleansed — " free from sin." Their holiness is 
to be as universal as their former sinfulness ; their 
obedience as entire as their former disobedience, and 
their purity as deep and complete as their depravity. 
Their depravity and sinfulness were both internal 
and external, and their freedom from sin and pollu- 
tion must be both inward and outward — the vessel 
must be cleansed both inside and outside. 

No safe interpretation of these Scriptures can ren- 
der doubtful our obligation to be entirely cleansed 
from sin ; nor can we neglect this with impunity, as 
God commands and requires immediate obedience. 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 69 

Salvation from sin ; from all sin I This is the 
grand design of the Gospel. 

I ask no higher state ; 

Indulge me but in this, 
And soon or later then translate 

To my eternal bliss. C. Wesley. 

16. " Who gave himself for us, that he 
might redeem us from all iniquity, and 
purify unto himself a peculiar people, 

ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS." — Titus ii. 14. 

In this passage we have the author and price of 
personal holiness. " He gave himself a ransom for 
all." "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible 
things, as silver and gold, .... But with the pre- 
cious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish 
and without spot." Christ "gave himself for us." 
That is, the great object and end of his death was 
to " redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto 
himself a peculiar people." 

Blessed be his name ! Myriads have prove* 
that he redeems from all iniquity and purifies from 
all uncleanness, so that his saints — holy ones, are a 
purified, "peculiar people, zealous of good works." 

Christ gave himself — died, as much to purify his 
people, as to pardon them ; as much to free them 
from all pollution, as from all guilt; and he can 
{accomplish their purification as easily and perfectly 
as their justificatioi*. 



70 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

The peculiarity of his people spoken of, is their 
purity and consequent unlikeness to the world. 
They are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a 
holy nation, a peculiar people." God's true people 
are separate from the world, are cleansed from all 
unrighteousness, are purified unto himself, and 
made fervent and abundant in good works. " How 
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ? " 

I want the witness, Lord, 

That all I do is right, — 
According to thy will and word, — 

Well pleasing in thy sight. (7. Wesley. 

17. "For this is the will of God, even 
your sanctification." — I. Thess. iv. 3. 

God's will as revealed in his word, is that his 
people should be holy — pure, chaste, clean — 
cleansed from all filthy lusts of the flesh, and all 
manner of uncleanness both of heart and life, of 
soul and of body. To assert that there is any sin 
of which the human heart is possessed, from which 
our God can not, or will not deliver us, is to say 
that either the devil is stronger than he, or that 
our sanctification is not his will. 

This passage may have special regard to bodily 
purity and chastity ;« and stands against all bodily 
uncleanness. Strictly speaking, the body is not 
the subject of sanctification, because, being a mate- 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 71 

rial substance, it is susceptible of neither virtue 
nor vice. But it may be sanctified in the sense of 
being dedicated to the service of God, and its organs 
and members, which were formerly employed in 
sinful actions, and were excitements to them, are 
changed into "instruments of righteousness." 

The body of the Christian is " a temple of the 
Holy Ghost," and is to be " preserved in sanctifica- 
tion and honor" — kept free from lust or concupis- 
cence — sacred to God. "For God hath not 
called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." " If 
any man defile the temple of God, him shall God 
destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which 
temple ye are." 

Our sanctification or purification, is God's will in 
both the permissive and authoritative sense. He is 
willing we should be holy, and he commands and 
requires us to be holy. Duty and privilege are 
bound together in religious things ; duty is privi- 
lege, and privilege is duty. We can put it either 
I musty or I may. And duty is not more prominent 
than privilege. 

He wills that I should holy be ! 

What can withstand his will ? 
The counsel of his grace in me 

He surely shall fulfil. C. Wesley. 

18. " He shall baptize you with the Holy 



72 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Ghost, and with fire : Whose fan is in his 
hand, and he * will thoroughly purge his 
FLOOR." — Luke iii. 16, 17. 

Dr. F. G. Hibbard says : — "In the time of Christ, 
through the prevalent influence of the Greek lan- 
guage and culture, baptism in a religious sense had 
come to be synonymous with purification" 

The baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire 
teaches the purification of the soul, which like fire 
in its operations purifies the heart from sin, consum- 
ing its lusts and corruptions. The metaphor is very 
expressive. Fire, as we have seen, is enlightening 
and illuminating. It is warming and melting. It 
is also pervading, consuming and transforming. 
Thus the blessed Holy Ghost works in the heart as 
a "refiner's fire," penetrating, melting, illuminat- 
ing, and purging its corruption. 

" Being sanctified by the Holy Grhost" that is, the 
work is wrought in the believer's heart by the power 
of the Holy Spirit, enlightening the understanding, 
rectifying the will, melting the sensibilities, purging 
the conscience, subduing the propensities, regulating 
and warming the affections, and thus renewing the 
whole soul " in righteousness and true holiness." 

That this is possible, no one will doubt who be- 
lieves in the supreme Divinity of the Holy Ghost, 
as the third person in the adorable Trinity ; whose 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 73 

office it is, to possess, enlighten, renew, strengthen, 
comfort, and sanctify the human soul. This is the 
blessed work of the Holy Spirit, and of it alone. 
He can pervade every part of the soul, and assimi- 
late the whole to the image of God. 

Refining fire, go through my heart ; 

Illuminate my soul; 
Scatter thy life through every part, 

And sanctify the whole. C. Wesley. 



%*&<&<§<$A$y&&^*M 



CHAPTER IV. 
Scripture Testimony. 

i(TF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, HE IS FAITHFUL 

AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS, AND TO 

CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS." — 

L John i. 9. 

This text clearly makes distinction between jus- 
tification and purification. To be justified is to 
have sin pardoned, and its penalty remitted by a 
judicial act of God. Justification is f hill and com- 
plete, and has no degrees. There are degrees in 
guilt, and degrees in condemnation, but justifica- 
tion admits of nous. 

Christ will take away by pardon all the guilt of 
our sins, and give us peace with God; and will 
cleanse away the depravity (the unrighteousness) of 
our nature, and impart the image of God, making 
us partakers of the divine nature. His work of 
cleansing will be as perfect or complete, as his par- 
doning grace is free and full, leaving nothing op- 
posed to pure love in our hearts. 

The first secures our title and passport to heaven ; 
the latter qualifies us for it by giving us a meetness 
for our inheritance. 

74 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 75 

If there be a heaven in the Universe of God, he, 
who secures and retains evangelical pardon and 
purity, will go there. 

Forgive and make my nature whole ; 

My inbred malady remove ; 
To perfect health restore my soul, 

To perfect holiness and love. C. Wesley. 



20. "And eveey man that hath this 
hope in him, pubifieth himself, even as he 
is pube." — I. John iii. 3. 

" Purifieth himself" that is, makes himself holy. 
The doctrine here is that of human agency in 
Christian purity. Salvation involves both the di- 
vine and human agency. A part of the work man 
can do, and he must do. All that is needful to be 
done, which is impossible for man to do, with assist- 
ing grace, is God's work, and he can do it. 

Our agency is involved in applying to Christ, and 
confiding in his cleansing blood with a submissive 
and believing heart, and by prayer for the sanctify- 
ing Spirit, and obedience to the purifying word. 
" Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth 
through the Spirit." 

Speak the second time, " Be clean !" 

Take away my inbred sin : 

Every stumbling block remove ; 

Cast it out by perfect love. C. Wesley. 



76 chris tia n purity. 

21. " Having therefore these promises, 
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves 
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 
perfecting holiness in the fear of god." — 
II. Cor. vii. 1. 

There is a measure of holiness in every heart 
that has received Christ by faith, and been regen- 
erated by the power of the Holy Ghost. All such 
are saints, though their holiness is not complete, 
nor yet made perfect. 

This exhortation, given with so much tenderness, 
to "perfect holiness," was to the Corinthian saints, 
called "dearly beloved," and is enforced by the 
"exceeding great and precious promises" in the 
former chapter — "I will dwell in them, and walk 
in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be 
my people" . . . "my sons and daughters, saith 
the Lord Almighty." 

The reader will remember these were the same 
believers, which the Apostle in his first epistle 
" could not speak unto as unto spiritual, but as un- 
to carnal;" and concerning whom he said: "Ye 
are yet carnal" "ye walk as men," and " are ye not 
carnal?" 

God requires holiness of heart, and purity in body 
— that we " cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of 
flesh and spirit." As human nature is universally 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 11 

corrupt ; moral depravity pervading all the facul- 
ties of the soul, and physical depravity all the 
members of the body; therefore, our purification 
must be radical and universal. 

The body as well as the soul must be sanctified, 
and kept clean and pure for God's service. Chastity 
of body is an important part of our sanctification. 
Sin is " filthiness," it may be of the flesh, or of the 
spirit, as there are defilements of body and of mind. 
There are sins of the "flesh" of which the body is 
the instrument, or that are committed by the body ; 
and sins of the spirit, which are confined to the 
heart, and never developed in the outer life. We 
may and must be cleansed from both, as God is to 
be glorified with both body and soul. 

It may be feared that many refuse to seek Chris- 
tian holiness because of habits of uncleanness — 
" filthiness of the flesh," physical indulgences, 
which they are unwilling to give up or put away. 
Our body is to be an instrument of righteousness 
unto holiness. It is " the temple of the Holy 
Ghost," inhabited and occupied by the Spirit. The 
idea of a temple is a place where Gf-od dwells — a 
place sacred to him, and to his service. 

God made our bodies. They have been pur- 
chased for him by the death of Christ, and they 
are not our own. " Ye are bought with a price." 



78 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Hence we are not to prostitute our bodies to 
wicked uses, or filthy lusts. Having made both 
soul and body, and redeemed both, he requires 
them kept as vessels fitted (purified) for his use. 
They should be regarded as his property — a 
sacred trust to be kept clean, that he may be 
honored by them. " Therefore glorify God in your 
body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 

Finish then thy new creation ; 

Pure and spotless let us be ; 
Let us see thy great salvation, 

Perfectly restored in thee. G. Wesley. 

22. " And put no difference between us 
and them, purifying their hearts by 

FAITH." — Acts XV. 9. 

With God there is no respect of persons. He 
makes no distinction in the provisions of grace — 
all are freely welcome. 

Purification by faith as the instrumental cause, is 
positive and clear in this passage. It is by having 
the heart purified, meritoriously by the blood of 
Christ, through the Holy Grhost as the efficient 
agent, and by faith as the instrumental cause — re- 
ceiving the Holy Spirit and blood of Christ for 
purification as well as for pardon — that all are 
made "one in Christ Jesus," — purity being the 
great family resemblance of one to the other. 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 79 

This purification, as this passage states, is wrought 
in the heart, and not in the head or hands. The 
head may be cleared of many false notions, and the 
hands washed from many evil practices, while the 
heart remains unpurified, and continues a fountain 
of pollution and uncleanness. 

I cannot wash my heart 

But by believing thee, 
And waiting for thy blood t'impart 

The spotless purity. C. Wesley. 

23. "BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." — I. Pet. 
i. 16. 

It is written by Moses, Lev. xix. 2 : "Ye shall 
be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." God 
requires and expects Christians to be holy. He 
enjoins it by command and example. And what he 
commands us to be and do, he will enable us to be and 
do. Saints are to be holy, as God is holy, completely 
and universally — "in all manner of conversation." 
This cannot be without a pure heart, as the necessary 
antecedent to a holy conversation. The tongue gives 
utterance to the heart's abundance — "out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." 

Evangelical holiness is positive and real, no 
typical; is personal and moral, and not merely rela- 
tive and ceremonial. It is wrought by the Holy 
Ghost, and is internal, radical, and diffusive, and 



80 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

constitutes the foundation for all outward holiness 
of life and conduct. 

As God is absolutely holy; and as he has called 
us his children, and made us his heirs, we must be 
positively holy, as the necessary qualification to 
reflect his image, honor him, and dwell with him in 
Paradise. 

Scatter the last remains of sin, 

And seal me thine abode ; 
make me glorious all within — 

A temple built by God ! G. Wesley. 

24. " But if we walk in the light, as he 
is in the light, we have fellowship one 
with another, and the blood of jesus 
Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin." 
— -i. John i. 7. 

Walking in the light always leads to the blood 
of cleansing. If the light is followed, it will soon 
flash deep and pungent conviction for holiness upon 
him who follows it. Not conviction of guilt, for he 
who walks in the light has no guilt. Not a sense of 
condemnation — "There is therefore now no con- 
demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus : " but 
a conviction of indwelling corruption and need of 
being cleansed therefrom — the remaining inherent 
sin in the regenerate heart, which becomes a matter 
of consciousness, and of painful anxiety to the 
believer. 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 81 

It is a short way from 'pardon to purity to him 

Who WALKS IN THE LIGHT. 

Walking in the light is not walking pure, 01 
walking into purity ; but walking to the fountain 
and the blood cleanses. The light discovers to us 
our defilement; while the blood of Christ takes it 
away. All that the light reveals of inbred sin, or 
evil in our nature, is positively cleansed from the 
heart by the blood of Christ. If it can remove the 
cause — actual sin and its guilt, it can remove the 
effect — impurity, inborn and acquired depravity. 
"And I will turn my hand upon thee, and will 
purely purge away all thy dross, and take away all 
thy tin." — Isaiah i. 25. 

Krummacher, the great German divine, in a dia- 
logue with an objector, says : " What avails the 
blood of Christ? It avails what mountains of good 
works, heaped up by us — what columns of the in- 
cense of prayer, curling up from our lips toward 
heaven — and what streams of tears of penitence, 
gushing fiom our eyelids — never could avail : ■ The 
blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all 
sin.' ' Helps us to cleanse ourselves, perhaps ? ' No: 
cleanseth us. * Furnishes the motive and the obliga- 
tion for us to cleanse ourselves ? ' No ; it cleanseth 
us. 'Cleanseth us from the desire to sin?' No; 
cleanseth us from sin itself. ' Cleanseth us from the 



82 CHRISTIAN PURITY, 

sin of inactivity in the work of personal improve- 
ment? ' No ; from all sin. i But did you say the 
Hood does this?' Yes, the blood. 'The doctrine 
of Christ, you must mean? ' No ; 'his blood. 4 Hi.- 
example it is? ' No; his blood, his blood" 

To limit the work and power of Christ, tends to 
destroy all confidence in him : there could be no 
certainty as from what sin we could, or could not 
be purged. It is expressly declared that the blood 
of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. 

Thou dying lamb ! thy precious blood 

Shall never lose its power, 
Till all the ransom'd Church of God 

Are saved to sin no more. Cowper. 

25. " Husbands, love your wives, even as 
Christ loved the Church, and gave himself 
for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse 
IT WITH THE TV ashing of water by the word." 
—Eph. v. 25, 27. 

Here is presented Christ's love for his people ; his 
devotion to them; and his washing and cleansing 
them from their pollution. For this purpose he died 
for them, that he might wash them in his own blood, 
that they might be without " spot, or wrinkle, or 
any such thing ; that they should be holy, and 
without blemish." Here is a state of freedom from 
all deformity or defilement — " holy and without blem- 
ish." A spotless spouse I 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 83 

Christ shed his most precious blood to purify 
and save the Church. What a Saviour ! What 
saints he can make ! And what a heaven prepared 
for them ! ! 

See from his wounded side 

The mingled current flow ; 
The water and the blood applied, 

Shall wash us white as snow. C. Wesley. 

26. " to open their eyes, and to turn them 
from darkness to light, and from the power 
of Satan unto god, that they may receive 
forgiveness of sin, and inheritance among 
them which are sanctified by faith that is 
in me." — Acts xxvi. 18. 

Matthew Henry remarks on this passage, — "All 
that shall be saved hereafter, are sanctified now. . . 
None can be happy that are not holy, nor shall any 
be saints in heaven that are not first saints on earth. 
. . . We are chosen to salvation through sanctifica- 
tion. . . . We are sanctified and saved by faith 
in Christ . . . For it is by faith that we are justified, 
sanctified and glorified." 

This is evangelical and clear. Salvation by faith, 
the forgiveness of sins, and the purification of the 
heart; consequently not by the merit of ivories, nor 
by that of suffering. O that these blessed truths 
may spread until every nation, and kindred, and 
tongue shall fear God and give glory to Him ! 



84 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

O love, thou bottomless abyss ! 

My sins are swallowed up in thee ; 
Covered is my unrighteousness, 

Nor spot of guilt remains on me; 
While Jesus' blood, through earth and skies, 

Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries. — John Wesley. 

27. " God hath from the beginning chosen 
you to salvation, through sanctification of 
the Spirit and belief of the truth." — 2 Thess. 
ii. 13. 

While the Holy Ghost is the mighty efficient 
agent in accomplishing our cleansing ; faith in 
Christ is the proximate condition of the work 
wrought. "Sanctified by faith that is in me^ 

Rev. C. H. Spurgeon says, — " Suppose, to put as 
plainly as you can, there is a garment which needs 
to be washed. Here is a person to wash it, and 
there is a bath in which it is to be washed — the 
person is the Holy Ghost, but the bath is the precious 
blood of Christ. It is strictly correct to speak of the 
person cleansing as being the sanctifier ; it is quite 
as correct to speak of that which constitutes the bath, 
and which makes it clean, as being the sanctifier too. 
Now the Spirit of God sanctifies us, he works effec- 
tively; but he sanctifies us through the blood of 
Christ, through the water which flows with the 
blood from Christ's smitten side. To repeat my 
iVnstration, here is a garment which is black; a 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 85 

fuller, in order to make it white, uses nitre and 
soap, both the fuller and the soap are cleansers ; so 
both the Holy Spirit and the atonement of Christ 
are sanctifiers." 

Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, 

And looks to that alone : 
Laughs at impossibilities, 

And cries, " It shall be done ! " C. Wesley. 

28. " how much more shall the blood of 
Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit 
offered himself without spot to god, purge 
your conscience from dead works to serve 
the living God?" — Heb. ix. 14. 

The doctrine taught in this Scripture and context 
is, that the sacrifices of the old dispensation could 
not purge the conscience, and take away the guilt 
and defilement of sin; but at best, "sanctify to the 
purifying of the flesh," — free the man from ceremo- 
nial uncleanness, and typify and point to the "Lamb 
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." 

The cleansing efficacy of Christ's blood, offered 
without spot to God, is sufficient to "purge the con- 
science from dead works," and reach the very soul 
defiled with sin, and remove "all uncleanness," and 
"renew the soul in righteousness and true holiness." 

As his vicarious death was offered "without spot 
to God," he can so purify the soul that it will be 
"without spot, or wrinkle, or ANY SUCH THING." 



86 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Tis done ; thou dost this moment save, 

With full salvation bless ; 
Redemption through thy blood I have, 

And spotless love and peace. G. Wesley. 



29. "For by one offering he hath per- 
fected FOREVER THEM THAT ARE SANCTIFIED. 

Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness 
to us." — Heb. x. 14. 

This chapter presents the superiority of the atone- 
ment of our Lord Jesus Christ over that of the 
Levitical priesthood: that being only the shadow 
of the substance — the pure and perfect priesthood 
of Christ. "The offering of the body of Jesus 
Christ, once for all;" which " perfected forever 
them that are sanctified," was what the Levitical 
priesthood could never do. Neither their purifica- 
tions under the law, nor the Pharisaic purification 
of the outward man, could cleanse the soul. The 
legal and typical sanctifications of the old dispensa- 
tions went no further than the purifying of the body; 
while the blood of Christ, through the eternal Spirit, 
takes hold upon the heart, the soul of man, and 
purifies that. 

The infinite efficacy of the priesthood of Christ is 
seen in the all-cleansing power of his blood. Hence 
the Apostle further says, in the context, — " Having 
therefore boldness to enter into the holiest 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 87 

by the blood of Christ;" lay aside all distrust 
and fear, and have " your heart sprinkled from an 
evil conscience" This "one sacrifice of Christ," 
offered "but once," is of such unspeakable value 
and everlasting efficacy, as to take away all sin ; 
reaching backward to fallen Adam, and forward to 
the last believing soul. " By one offering he hath 
'perfected forever them that are sanctified." 

Now let thy Spirit bring me in, 
And give thy servant to possess 

The land of rest from inbred sin, 
The land of perfect holiness. 0. Wesley, 

30. "Haying therefore, brethren, bold- 
ness TO ENTER INTO THE HOLIEST BY THE BLOOD 

oe Jesus." — Heb. x. 19. 

Here we see our grand privilege through the blood 
of Christ — we may " enter into the holiest." 
This gives full and free access to God ; and, like the 
Jewish high-priest, we may enter into the " Holy of 
holies" and come out all fragrant with divine in- 
cense, preparatory to our entrance into heaven. 

The way is not by works, nor by growth or 
development, but "by the blood of Jesus." This 
is the "old tvay" the "new and the living way" 
and the only way. " I am the ivay, the truth, and 
the life" said Jesus ; and " neither is there salvation 
in any other," says St. John, " for there is none other 



88 CHRISTIAN PURIT\ . 

name under heaven given among men, whereby we 
must be saved." All praise to his precious name ! 
"He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.'' 

Now let me gain perfection's height ; 

Now let me into nothing fall; 
As less than nothing in thy sight, 

And feel that Christ is all in all ! C. Wesley. 

31. " Wherefore he is able also to save 
them to the uttermost that come unto god 
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make 

INTERCESSION FOR THEM." — Eel. vii. 25. 

It is the same almighty Christ, who rolls the stars 
along in the heavens, who is here declared to be 
ABLE to save to the uttermost. Who can doubt that 
he who spake and it was done, who commanded and 
it stood fast, is able to save to the uttermost? The 
power that said, let there be light and there was 
light, that commanded the light to shine out of dark- 
ness, and that shines in our hearts, is able to save 
to the outermost of human necessity or possibility. 

He is Immanuel — " God with us." Christ is 
an infinite saviour, and the Scriptures nowhere limit 
the power of his atonement, but expressly declare 
" The blood of Jesus Christ his Son clean seth is 
from all sin." 

However inveterate the disease of sin, the grace 
and power of the Lord Jesus can fully cure it. He 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 89 

can so refine and purify the believing soul by the 
light and melting power of the Almighty Spirit 
shining in the heart, as to purge away every corrup- 
tion to the very uttermost. 

We may say of this " uttermost" as Paul says o 
the love of God, its heights and depths, its lengths 
and breadths are immeasurable andincoinprehensible. 

Then let us all thy fulness know, 

From every sin set free ; 
Sav'd to the utmost, sav'd below, 

And perfected by thee. C. Wesley. 

32. " Seeing ye have purified your souls 
in obeying the truth, through the Spirit 
unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see 
that ye love one another with a pure 

HEART FERVENTLY." — I. Pet. 1. 22. 

" The Gospel had already such an effect upon 
them, (says Matthew Henry) as to purify their souls, 
while they obeyed it through the Spirit. It is not 
to be doubted that every sincere Christian purifies 
his soul. To purify the soul supposes some great 
uncleanness and defilement which had polluted it 
and that this defilement is removed." 

The word of God is represented in this passage a.* 
the instrument of our purification, — " seeing ye have 
purified your souls in obeying the truth" Many 
hear and know the truth, but are not purified by it, 
because they do not submit to it or obey it. 



90 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

The Gospel is called " the truth." It proclaims 
the great uncleanness of the soul, and its divine 
remedy. St. Paul declares he was not ashamed of 
the Gospel of Christ, because it was the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth. 

Lowly, loving, meek and pure, 

I shall to the end endure ; 

Be no more to sin inclined ; 

Jesus is a constant mind. C. Wesley, 

33. "Every branch in me that beareth 
not fruit he taketh away: and every 
branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, 
that it may bring forth more fruit. now 
ye are clean through the word which i 

HAVE SPOKEN UNTO YOU." — John XV. 2, 3. 

The truth taught in this passage, is, that in the re- 
generated believer, who is a " branch in ? Christ, and 
-who "beareth [some] fruit," there remains impurity 
to be " purged " in order to greater fruitfulness. 

Note, " the branch " is " in Christ ; " and " If any 
man be in Christ, he is a new creature, " and he 
"beareth fruit." He is therefore a true Christian, 
and a fruitful Christian, and yet God purgeth him. 
There is then in every such branch — in every such 
Christian something to be purged away ; something 
of moral evil and defilement that limits or hinders 
fruitfulness, and needs extermination. Its removal 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY, 01 

is the work of God. " He purgeth it." This shows 
that corruption does yet remain in those who are in 
Christ. " Now ye are clean through the word which 
I have spoken unto you," i e., Christians are made 
clean through the purging power of Christ's " word.' 
God's word possesses cleansing virtue and power, 
hence the prayer of Christ — " sanctify them through 

thy truth" 

Christians sanctified by Christ and made clean, 
glorify God in bearing "much fruit." Increased 
f ruitfulness is a result of cleansing, and an evidence 
of being cleansed. God is glorified proportioned to 
the quality, permanency , and abundance of Christian 
fruitfulness. Purity involves this, "being made 
free from sin, ye have your fruit unto holiness." 

"A field properly weeded and cleared from briars 
(says Mr. Fletcher), is naturally more fruitful than 
one which is shaded by spreading brambles, or filled 
with indwelling roots of noxious weeds." 

Purity affords the graces of the Spirit a most lux- 
uriant growth, bearing the fruits of righteousness to 
the praise and glory of God. Hence — " If a man 
therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a 
vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the 
Master's use." 

I wait till he shall touch me clean, 

Shall life and power impart, 
Give me the faith that casts out sin, 

And purifies the heart. C, Wesley. 



92 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

34. " A GOOD MAN, OUT OF THE GOOD TREAS- 
URE OP THE HEART, BRINGETH FORTH GOOD 
THINGS; AND AN EVIL MAN, OUT OF THE EVIL 
TREASURE, BRINGETH FORTH EVIL THINGS." — 

Matt. xii. 35. 

The human heart is a treasury of good, or of evil , 
and what is in it will come out of it. Pure lips, a 
pure spirit, and a pure life come from the heart. 
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh." Evil words, and a wicked spirit and life 
are the natural products of an impure heart. " How 
can ye (said Christ), being evil, speak good things? " 
The heart being the fountain, the streams necessarily 
correspond with it. 

The occasions of sin to some extent, may come 
from without ; yet the source and springs, the root, 
the seed is within. The relation between the heart 
and the outer life is about the same as the relation 
between the fountain, and the stream flowing from 
it. This is the plain Bible idea of a Christian life — 
a pure and right life, the result of a pure and right 
heart. The life must be the index of the heart ; as 
the heart pervades all our activities, and gives char- 
acter to them. A holy life outwardly, must spring 
from a pure heart inwardly, or there will be discord 
and conflict. To look for a holy life without a holy 
heart, is, in the language of our Lord, to " gather 
grapes from thorns and figs from thistles. }> 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 93 

The relation of the inner to the outer life is seen 
in the relation between the tree and the fruit which 
it bears. Christ said, " Either make the tree good 
and his fruit good: or else make the tree corrupt 
and his fruit corrupt ; for the tree is known by its 
fruity "If the root be holy, so are the branches." 
When the heart is pure, how naturally and beauti- 
fully a life of purity will manifest itself ! 

O that the Comforter would come ! 

Nor visit as a transient guest, 
But fix in me his constant home, 

And keep possession of my breast, 
And make my soul his lov'd abode, 
A temple of the living God. C. Wesley. 

35. "NOW, THE END OF THE COMMANDMENT 
IS CHARITY (LOVE) OUT OF A PURE HEART."-- 

i. Tim. i. 5. 

That is, the great design, scope and aim of the 
commandment is "charity out of a pure heart." 
Mr. Wesley said, — " Pure love (charity) reigning 
alone in the heart, this is the whole of Christian per- 
fection." In order that love or charity may flow out 
of a pure heart, the heart must first be cleansed — 
made pure. 

" Love is the fulfilling (the substance and fulfill- 
ment) of the law." It is the germ or principle of 
all evangelical obedience ; and he who loves God 
with all his heart, will obey him with all his power. 



94 CHRISTIAN PURITY, 

We can only love God with all the power we 
actually possess : God requires nothing more, and he 
could require nothing less. 

The requirement is, " with all thy heart, and soul, 
and mind, and strength.'" " That this is possible it 
is folly to deny (says Dr. Jeremy Taylor). For he 
that saith he can not do a thing with all his strength, 
that is, that he can not do what he can do, knoweth 
not what he saith." 

Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart, 

Come quickly from above ; 
Write thy new name upon my heart. 

Thy new, best name of love. C. Wesley- 

36. " For it pleased the Father, that in 
him should all fullness dwell." . .. . " for 
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the 
God-head bodily. And ye are complete in 
him." . . . "They shall call his name Im- 
manuel, which being interpreted is god 
with us."— Matt i. 23 ; Col i. 19 ; Col. ii. 19. 

Where then is the soul that this divine Saviour 
cannot save ? Where is the disease that this great 
Physician cannot heal? Where is the pollution 
which his blood cannot cleanse ? Where in all this 
wicked world is a man so deeply fallen, our great 
Redeemer cannot rescue him ? Can such a case be 
foun 1 ? 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY, 95 

Let an inspired Apostle answer, — " Wherefore, he 
is able to save them to the utttermost, that come 
unto the Father by him, seeing he ever liveth to 
make intercession for them." 

Jesus, thy blood and righteousness 

My beauty are, my glorious dress ; 

'Mid flaming worlds in these arrayed, 

With joy shall I lift up my head. J. Wesley. 

37. " Unto him that loved us, and washed 
cts from our sins in his own blood, and 
hath made us kings and priests unto god, 
and his Father, to him be glory and 
dominion forever and ever. amen." — rev. 
i. 5, 6. 

In this song of the blood-washed, we learn that 
Christ gave himself a sacrifice for our sins, and by 
the vicarious merit of his blood, frees us from the 
guilt of sin in our justification; and by the " wash- 
ing " and " cleansing" of his blood, frees us from 
the pollution of sin in our sanctification. 

His blood avails for our i( righteousness and true 
holiness" — our peace and purity. Glory to his 
name ! He " washes us in his own blood." He 
does not barely sprinkle us, but a washes us in his 
own blood" — his life, his heart's blood. 

We must be clean ! We must be every whit 
whole ! God says so ! " Awake ! awake ! put on 



96 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

thy strength, O Zion ! put on thy beautiful gar- 
ments ! " Purity is the white robe which is 
worn by the blood- washed before the throne. It is 
the royal " wedding garment," which is to adorn 
us at the marriage supper of the Lamb in the great 
day of coronation. 

When God is mine, and I am his, 

Of paradise possess'd, 
I taste unutterable bliss, 

And everlasting rest. Medley, 

38. "Wilt thou be made whole?" — John 
v. 6. 

As much as to say, if thou wilt thou canst be 
made whole, or clean. Depravity is a most invet- 
erate and dangerous disease. There is a remedy ! 
Christ is the great Physician ! 

This question is often asked in the secret of our 
souls, by the inspiration of God's Spirit. Why then 
are we not clean ? Is it because there is a lack 
of power in Christ to accomplish it ? This cannot 
be ; " with God all things are possible." Is it 
because he is not willing ? This has been shown 
to be otherwise. He came from heaven on purpose 
to save. Why then is it ? You can be made whole 
— made clean through the blood of Jesus, or not, 
just as you choose. " Wilt thou be made whole ?" 

The author of this interrogation " was bruised for 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 97 

our iniquities," — " the Lord hath laid on him the 
iniquity of us all ; " and it is said, " he shall see of 
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied ; " for, 
having borne our iniquities, "with his stripes 

WE ARE HEALED." 

Take my soul and body's powers ; 

Take my memory, mind and will ; 
All my goods, and all my hours, 

All I know and all I feel ; 
All I think, or speak, or do ; 
Take my heart ! but make it new ! C. Wesley. 

The reader will see these passages of Scripture are 
clear, definite, and positive. Let us recall attention 
to a few of them. The one in Ezekiel promises 
deliverance from all that defiles the heart in the 
sight of God, and from all that estranges it from 
him. Less than this can not be implied in being 
cleansed from all our filthiness, and all our idols. 

In the passage in n. Cor. vii. 1, we are exhorted 
by the most powerful motives, to cleanse ourselves 
from every wicked and depraved passion, called by 
the Apostle " filthiness of flesh and spirit; " and to 
perfect holiness from a sacred fear of Him, who has 
promised to enter into the most endearing and 
hallowed relationship with us, on the condition of 
our purity. — He will dwell with us as in his temple. 
He will love us as his children. 

In the passage in Eph. v. 25, it is distinctly stated, 



98 CHRISTIAN PURITY, 

that the 'purity which Christ died to produce in his 
Church, is so entire that when accomplished by the 
" washing of water through the Word," his Church 
should be glorious, even in his pure eyes, having 
neither "spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but 
that it should be holy and without blemish." 

The passage from St. John, I. Epistle i. 7, shows 
us that any degree of impurity is utterly inconsistent 
with full fellowship with God, and that those who 
" walk in the light, as he is in the light, have fellow- 
ship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ 

his Son CLEANSETH US FKOM ALL SIN." 

The Bible is a plainly written book. Its teach- 
ings are clear and definite, and free from all con- 
fusion. Our duty is plain, and need not be mis- 
understood — to accept its instructions thankfully, 
reverently, and with no unhallowed criticism. 

If the figure of refining gold is used, it is, " I will 
purely purge away all thy dross" If water be the 
figure, it is, " Ye shall be whiter than snow" If it be 
the working of leaven, it is, " Till the whole is leav- 
ened" If it be death by crucifixion, it is, "He that 
is dead is freed from sin" If cleansing the leper is 
the figure, it is, " Ye shall be clean" or " I will, be 
thou clean." If it be a creation, it is, " Create in me a 
clean heart" If it be a renewal, it is, is In righteous- 
ness and true holiness" If it be a command, it is, 



SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 99 

" Be ye holy, for lam holy." If it be an exhortation, 
it is, "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of 
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of 
God" If it be a promise, it is, " Then will 1 
sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall he clean" 
If it be a declaration, it is, "The blood of Jesus Christ 
his Son cleanseth us from all sin" If it has respect 
to the priesthood of Christ, it is, " Wherefore he is 
able also to save them to the uttermost." 

Is it a state described ? It is, " Blessed are the 
pure in heart" Is depravity as deep and indelible 
as scarlet and crimson ? It is, " They shall be as white 
as snow" Does it present a divine Prototype ? It 
is, " As he ( Christ) is, so are we in this world" Is the 
instrumental cause presented ? It is, "Sanctify them 
through thy truth." Is the meritorious cause pre- 
sented?- It is, "The blood of Jesus Christ," who 
"gave himself a ransom for all" Is human agency 
involved in the work ? It is, "Come, for all things 
are now ready ; " and, u Purifieth himself, even as He 
is pure" Is the proximate conditional cause pre- 
sented? It is, "Sanctified by faith that is inme," 
and, ' ( Furifying their hearts BY faith." Is the 
grand efficient Agent referred to ? It is, " Through 
sanctification of the Spirit." Is it who shall enter 
heaven? It is, "Re that hath clean hands and a 
pure heart" 



100 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Not a figure or term used, significant of purifica- 
tion, has any limitation to teach that the work may 
not be completed at once, — instantaneously wrought 
by the supernatural power of God. The words " all," 
" wholly," " whole " and the like, express a, finished 
work in those "purified, made white, and tried^ 

Sanctification is a plain, single, simple, definite 
cleansing, wrought by God himself, in the soul itself. 
And these passages are a standing rebuke to that 
gradualism, which pushes this whole subject into 
indefinite generalities, without a distinct work of 
cleansing. 

No proposition can be more plainly stated than is 
stated in God's word, that our complete purification 
from sin is by the blood of Christ. And, yet, what 
efforts are constantly being put forth to set aside this 
plain, fundamental, and most precious truth, u that 
the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from 
all sin." 

" The promise stands, forever sure, 
And we shall in thine image shine, 

Partakers of a nature pure, 
Holy, angelical, divine ; 

Inspirit joined to thee, the Son, 

A& thou art with thy Father one." Q-. Wesley \ 



*-*?*<&5<*>£Gy&g>~>^ 



CHAPTER V. 
Regeneration is not Complete Purity. 

^ TTAVING therefore these promises, dearly be- 
loved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthi- 
ness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the 
fear of God." — n. Cor. vii. 1. Those who chiefly 
composed the early churches were certainly true 
Christians, and a considerable part of the New 
Testament was written to promote their purity or 
entire sanctification. All but six of the Epistles 
were sent to churches, most of whose membership, 
although converted, were not entirely sanctified. 

Three thousand were converted on the day of 
Pentecost, and five thousand immediately after- 
ward. These were from all parts of the Roman 
Empire ; and they returned to their native places 
and founded Christian churches. Many of them 
were established by the Apostles themselves, who 
afterward wrote Epistles to them. 

Paul founded the church in Corinth. He preached 
there about two years, and had great success. God 
gave him a vision, assuring him that he had much 

people in that city, and greatly encouraged him in 

101 



102 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

his work. Those addressed by the Apostle in 
this passage and Epistle were Christian believers 
in that church. They were children of God, and 
are called " brethren," "beloved brethren," " dearly 
beloved," " believers," u God's husbandry," "God's 
building," "babes in Christ," and "temples of 
God;" and yet these very persons, who are thus 
described, were, as the Apostle asserts, " carnal ; " 
they "walked as men," were "envious" and there 
were " strife and divisions " among them. There- 
fore he exhorts them to perfect, or complete their 
holiness in the fear of God ; and states that to be 
cleansed from all sin, is "perfecting holiness" 

That regeneration is the commencement of puri- 
fication, we suppose no one will question. But that 
regeneration and entire sanctification are identi- 
cal, and take place at the same time, is contrary to 
the whole doctrinal teachings of Christianity, with 
hardly a trifling exception for nearly two thousand 
years. This is especially true of doctrinal and ex- 
perimental Methodism, in which all our standard 
authors and accredited writers are explicitly a unit. 

Mr. Wesley says, — "It is true, we are then 
delivered, as was observed before, from the do- 
minion of outward sin ; and, at the same time, the 
power of inward sin is so broken, that we need 
no longer follow, or be led by it ; but it is by no 



REGENERA TION IS NO T COMPLE TE PURITY, 103 

means true, that inward sin is then totally de- 
stroyed; that the root of pride, self-will, anger, love 
of the world, is then taken out of the heart; or that 
the carnal mind, and the heart bent to backsliding, 
are entirely extirpated. And to suppose the con- 
trary, is not, as some may think, an innocent, harm- 
less mistake. No : IT DOES immense harm ; IT 

ENTIRELY BLOCKS UP THE WAY TO ANY FURTHER 

change." — Sermons, vol. i. p. 124. 

While the regenerated soul has in itself the' es- 
sence and principle of true and genuine holiness, 
it has it in a nature "yet carnal," — not fully 
cleansed from indwelling sin. Though regeneration 
is the beginning of the "life in Christ" "unto right- 
eousness," it is not the complete "death unto sin." 

We should carefully observe the Bible distinction 
between indwelling sin — "sin dwelling in my mem- 
bers" — remaining in the heart, but under the con- 
trol of grace; and sin, strictly speaking, — sin in 
the life, called in the Scriptures "committing sin," 
or "transgression of the law" 

Inbred sin remaining in the regenerate heart, in- 
dicates its existence and presence, first, to the con- 
sciousness of the soul in perverse inclination, and 
then, more or less, in outward action. It is a 
positive, operative principle of evil vervadina maris 
moral nature ; and is a matter of consciousness as 



104 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

clear and positive as any mental or moral state. 
Anger, impatience, envy, pride, hatred, and the like 
are facts of positive consciousness. 

This depravity is inherent, and exists as an evil 
principle or carnal nature. Its moral quality is 
known by its tendency and fruit. It has a negative, 
and a positive aspect, and is evil in both respects. 
It is "free from righteousness," and it is positive 
"unrighteousness." It is not merely disinclined to 
holiness, but is positively sin-wardly inclined. 
Hence it is not merely a negative evil, but has a 
sadly positive side. Being a negation of God, it, 
in either mere existence or influence, is opposed to 
God. — "The carnal mind is enmity against God." 

Its existence is known by its manifestations. As 
smoke, smut, and sparks from a chimney show that 
there is fire within, so all "filthy conversation," 
"evil speaking," bitterness, and anger indicate and 
evidence the pollution of the heart, whence they 
proceed. All pride, vanity, hypocrisy, envy, malice, 
jealousy, covetousness and enmity have their seat 
in the heart, and their "root" or "seed," is inbred sin. 

Bishop Foster says, "The seat of all moral quality 
is the soul." "Properly, nothing can be said to 
possess moral quality but the soul. Acts indicate 
the moral quality of the person who performs them. 
They are the fruit which declares the nature of the 
tree." — Christian Purity, p. 91 t 



REGENERA TION IS NO T COMPLE TE PURITY. 105 

Regeneration is the commencement of spiritual 
life in the soul, in which God imparts, organizes and 
calls into being the capabilities, attributes and func- 
tions of the new nature. While regeneration and 
entire sanctification are essentially of one nature, 
there is a distinction ; the first includes, in addition 
to imparted life, the commencement of purification; 
the other is the completion of purification — "per- 
fecting HOLINESS." 

The two works, not being identical, are not to 
be confounded. " Confounding what God has di- 
vided," says Mr. Fletcher, "and dividing what the 
God of truth has joined, are the two capital strata- 
gems of the god of error. The first he has chiefly 
used to eclipse or darken the doctrine of Christian 
Perfection." — Last Check, p. 606. 

There is both a doctrinal, and an experimental dif- 
ference ; the first, preceding and falling below the 
other, and there is a transition from one to the 
other. The regenerated soul, being born of the 
Spirit, has spiritual life, and possesses all the essen- 
tial members or features of the "new life." It pos- 
sesses all the graces of the Spirit NUMERICALLY, 
as each lineament or feature of the divine image 
is imparted to the " Babe in Christ," at regenera- 
tion. The life may be quite feeble and diminutive, 
but still it possesses all the essential elements of a 



106 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

"man in Christ." Understand us: the change is 
great, very great; though the new life is feeble, 
the change is from death to life, and from the 
dominion of sin to the reign of grace. 

These essentials of the divine life exist as really 
in its first, as in its more advanced stages ; but the 
being, and opposing force of indwelling sin, to some 
extent remain. Therefore, while there is the be- 
ginning of the new life unto righteousness, there is 
not a complete death unto sin. 

Bishop Hopkins, in his Essaj r on Regeneration, 
vol. ii. p. 239, says, — "In the very instant of our 
regeneration, all the graces of the Holy Spirit are 
implanted in us at once ; for they are all linked 
together, and whoever receives one grace receives 
them all." 

"In regeneration," says Dr. John Dick, "there 
is an infusion of spiritual life into the soul, in which 
life all the graces, or all the holy tempers of the 
Christian are virtually included." — Lectures on 
Theology. 

In the merely regenerate, these graces of the 
Spirit, this "new life," has existence in a soul par- 
tially carnal, — possessing inbred sin; which is un- 
congenial to its own nature, hence antagonisms in 
the soul. This life is impaired and impeded by this 
rmuainincc corruption, and an internal war neces- 



REGENERA TION IS NOT COMPLE TE PURITY. 107 

sitated. Thus, the necessity for a further cleans- 
ing — the " perfecting holiness in the fear of God," 

The purified state, and the merely regenerate 
state differ in moral quality, Grace in one case 
has antagonisms to itself in the heart, in the other 
it has none. The "new man," or "new life," ex- 
ists in AST uncleansed soul in the former case, 
and in a purified soul in the latter. 

Sin and holiness, purity and defilement are an- 
tagonistic terms, and whatever either is, the other 
must be just its opposite. The Bible represents 
holiness as the contrast of defilement or pollution. 

Indwelling sin, or inborn and acquired depravity 
are antagonistic, and the opposite of an indwelling 
and acquired righteousness. Inherent righteousn ess 
is communicated in sanctification, and is derived 
from Christ. As inbred sin is inherent and derived 
from Adam, the first man; so in purification by 
faith in Christ, righteousness is inherent, and de- 
rived from Him our second Adam; that, "as we 
have borne the image of the earthy, we may also 
bear the image of the heavenly," " which after 
Grod is created in righteousness and true holiness." 

Though we may not teach that indwelling right- 
eousness is derived from Christ in the same way 
depravity is from Adam ; it is clear that it is just as 
positive, inherent, and operative in the entirely sane- 



108 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

tified soul, as depravity in the unsanctified. The 
Apostle says — u Where sin abounded, grace did 
much more abound" When the soul "after God 
is created in righteousness and true holiness," this 
antagonism of depravity must have as positive 
existence as did the depravity. 

Internal righteousness — purity, involving in- 
ward, God-ward tendencies, is the direct opposite 
of inbred sin — impurity, involving inward, sin- 
ward tendencies. 

This moral state is derived from Christ our sec- 
ond Adam through faith, hence can not be trans- 
mitted. This God has withheld. While the Holy 
Spirit quickens man's dead spirit into divine life, 
he does not impart the power to transmit that life ; 
and if the life can not be transmitted, the moral 
quality of the life can not be transmitted. God 
makes us partakers of the divine nature, but 
withholds the power of transmitting that nature ; 
hence each child that comes into the world has a 
depraved bias, needs personal redemption, and must 
embrace Christ for himself. 

Rev. Dr. Curry stated in his address before the 
New York Preachers' Meeting, that original or 
inborn sin, has an existence beyond mere volitions, — 
u As something real and beyond nitre volitions and 
actions ; and this evil condition of the soul it assumes 



REGENERA TION IS NO T COMPLE TE PURITY. 109 

to be inborn and inherent in man's nature, 
and therefore to be taken away by regenerating and 
sanctifying power." — Speeches on Perfect Love, p. 47. 

Because it may exist as a state, condition, or quality 
of being, the Doctor expressed doubts regarding 
the cleansed state being one of consciousness. He 
said, " Consciousness takes notice of the soul's 
processes, but the range of its observance does not 
extend to the quiescent states of the soul." 

What are rest, freedom from condemnation, peace 
and repose, but " quiescent states of the soul," of 
which we may be as clearly and positively conscious 
as of any of the soul's processes ? We can no more 
doubt the testimony of consciousness, than we can 
doubt our existence, as no testimony is more certain. 

It is the only direct and positive testimony of the 
soul's existence, states, and exercises. By this we 
know we live and breathe, we love or hate, we sit, 
or stand, or walk ; or that we are joyful, sorrowful, 
happy or wretched. The sanctified soul may be as 
positively and fully conscious of purity, as the un- 
sanctified of impurity. While wicked passions and 
vicious states — pride, anger, unbelief, and con- 
demnation are matters of positive consciousness; 
love, peace, humility, patience, faith and obedience 
are equally so. Conscience usually speaks more 
loud and clear to the purified heart than to the 
impure, as grace quickens, while sin paralyzes. 



110 CHRISTIAN' PURITY. 

The condition of the regenerate, but not entirely 
purified believer, in a modified sense, is a mixed one, 
he is in part holy, and in part unholy ; in part sanc- 
tified, and in part unsanctified — his soul is not 
holy throughout. Dr. Adam Clarke says, " God 
cannot be said to fill the whole soul while any 
place, part, passion, or faculty is filled, or less 
or more occupied, by sin and Satan." — Clarke's 
Theology, p. 193. 

The merely regenerate is possessed of both grace 
and inbred sin. The reader will please notice that 
these have existence in the heart without form- 
ing any combination or composition, the same 
as mixtures may take place in natural substances 
without combination, being opposed to each other, 
and possessed of no affiliation. There is no such 
commingling of grace and inbred sin, as to make an 
adulterated holiness. Strictly speaking, an adul- 
terated holiness is an absurdity — a contradiction. 
Holiness is holiness. 

The carnal and the spiritual have no fellowship. 
The tendency of all depravity is earthly, sensual 
and devilish, and all holiness tends to the virtuous, 
the heavenly, and Divine. 

There is but one kind of religious life ; but that 
life, though divinely imparted, may exist in a par- 
tially purified soul, or in one entirely purified; and 



REGENERA TlON IS NOT COMPLETE PURITY. Ill 

in that sense there may be a distinction; hence the 
propriety of regarding the merely regenerate as, in 
a modified sense, in a mixed moral state — possessed 
of both spiritual life and indwelling sin. 

Mr. Wesley says in his sermon on Patience, — 
"Till this universal change (purification) was 
wrought in his soul (the regenerate), all his holiness 
was mixed." Mixed, necessarily in a restricted 
sense. Both grace and inbred sin have existence in 
the same soul, though antagonistic and at war with 
each other, and in their essential nature diametri- 
cally opposed to each other. Though existing for 
the time in the same person in admixture, they are 
distinct in nature and tendency ; they " are contrary 
the one to the other," and are irreconcilable enemies. 

Partly holy, and partly unholy, as in a sense is 
the case with the merely regenerate, does by no 
means imply a homogeneous character, combining and 
assimilating into a common nature the elements of 
both holiness and inbred sin. 

The mixed moral state of the merely regenerate 
is very different from this. Their possession of the 
human soul at the same time, does not imply 
fkiekdship or partnership in any sense. Being 
antagonistic, and having no conformity to each 
other, they can not assimilate or grow like each 
other, so as to become one, or of the same nature. 



112 ' CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Their existence in the heart without commingling 
or composition may be illustrated by vegetables 
and weeds in a garden. 

The Apostle refers to this contrariety and antag- 
onism in Galatians, — " For the flesh lusteth 
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, 
and these are contrary the one to the other ; so that 
ye cannot do the things that ye would." " What 
fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteous- 
ness ? " All that remains in the regenerate soul 
of the " carnal " is " enmity to God." 

" That in this sense there is sin in the incipient 
believer," says Dr. John Dempster, " is a Script- 
ural truth, sustained by many kinds of evidence." 
— Beauty of Holiness, 1863, p. 30. 

The implantation of spiritual life does not destroy 
the carnal mind ; though its power is broken, it 
does not cease to exist. While the new birth is the 
beginning of purification, it is, perhaps, more the 
process of imparting or begetting spiritual life, than 
the process of refining or purification ; which in 
entire sanctification is the extraction of remaining 
impurity from regenerated human nature. 

Where the " new life " exists, grace has the mas- 
tery; as Mr. Wesley says, — "Inbred sin may exist 
where it does not reign." The justified soul strives 
against these corruptions, does not allow them, hates 



REGENERA TION IS NO T COMPLE TE PURITY. 113 

them, mourns over them, and groans under them as 
a burden, and seeks their destruction or removal. 

Condemnation is only consequent upon actual 
transgression in sin of either omission or commission. 
In both regeneration and purification the soul is 
free from condemnation. The deficiency of the 
merely regenerate, is complete purification. 

Bishop Hedding says, — " That a soul merely born 
of Ciod needs a further sanctification (purification) 
is evident from the whole current of the writings 
of the Apostles." — Sermon. 

It has been nearly the universal belief of the 
Evangelical Church that inbred sin, some "unright- 
eousness " does remain after regeneration. As the 
Zinzendorf and Maxwell error has recently made 
its appearance among us, and has been virtuall}- 
endorsed bj 7 some of our chief ministers, and is 
being taught in some of our pulpits, I have regarded 
it proper to present the reader with a large number 
of quotations from the leading writers of the 
Christian Church. 

Mr. Wesley, in his Plain Account of Christian 
Perfection, page 48, writes : — '* When does inward 
sanctification begin? In the moment a man is 
justified. Yet sin remains in him, yea the seed of 
all sin, till he is sanctified throughout." 

In 1763 Mr. Wesley said, "I retired to Lewisham 



114 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

and wrote the sermon on ' Sin in Believers,' in 
order to remove a mistake which some were labor- 
ing to propagate, that there is no sin in any that 
are justified." In that sermon he says, " Indeed 
this grand point, that there are two contrary 
principles in (unsanctified) believers — nature and 
grace, the flesh and the Spirit, runs through all the 
Epistles of St. Paul, yea, through all the Scriptures." 

" I cannot, therefore, by any means receive this 
assertion, that there is no sin in a believer from the 
moment he is justified ; first, because it is contrary 
to the whole tenor of Scripture ; — secondly, because 
it is contrary to the experience of the children of 
God ; — thirdly, because it is absolutely new, never 
heard of in the world till yesterday; — and, lastly, 
because it is naturally attended with the most fatal 
consequences ; not only grieving those whom God 
hath not grieved, but perhaps dragging them into 
everlasting perdition." — Sermons, vol. i. p. 111. 

Quotations from Mr. Wesley might be given on 
this subject to great length if it were necessary. 

Rev. John Fletcher wrote an " Address to Imper- 
fect Believers," in which he says, — " We do not deny 
that the remains of the carnal mind still cleave to 
imperfect Christians." . . . "Our Church prudently 
requires our subscription to our ninth article, which 
asserts, (1) That i the fault and corruption of oui 



REGENERA TION IS NO T COMPLE TE PURITY. 115 

nature ' is a melancholy reality : and, (2) That this 
1 fault, corruption, or infection doth remain in them 
who are regenerated.' " — Last Check, pp. 207, 241. 

Dr. Adam Clarke, the celebrated Commentator, 
says : " I believe justification and sanctification to 
be widely distinct works. I have been twenty- 
three years a travelling preacher, and have been 
acquainted with some thousands of Christians dur- 
ing that time, who were in different states of grace, 
and never to my knowledge met with a single 
instance where God both justified and sanctified at 
the same time." — Everett's Life of Dr. A. Clarke. 

Bishop Hedding : " Regeneration also, being the 
same as the new birth, is the beginning of sanctifica- 
tion, though not the completion of it, or not entire 
sanctification. Regeneration is the beginning of 
purification ; entire sanctification is the finishing of 
that work." ....." Though the soul in this state 
enjoys a degree of religion, yet it is conscious it is 
not what it ought to be, nor what it must be to be fit 
for heaven."' . , . fc 'It seems that the sinfulness of 
our nature, or original sin may remain in the new 
born soul independent of choice, and even against 
choice." . . . "The person fully sanctified is cleansed 
from all these inward involuntary sms." — Address 
at the N. J. Con. 

Rev. Wm. Bramwell wrote to a friend: "An 



116 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

idea is going forth that when we are justified we 
are entirely sanctified ; and to feel evil nature after 
justification, is to lose pardon. You may depend 
upon it, this is the devil's great gust. We 
shall have much trouble with this, and I am afraid 
we can not suppress'it." — Memoir of Bramwell. 

Rev. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, says : " By a 
consent almost universal, the word regeneration is 
now used to designate, not the whole work of sanc- 
tification, . . . but the instantaneous change from 
spiritual death to spiritual life" .... "According 
to the Scriptures, and the undeniable evidence of 
history, regeneration does not remove all sin" — 
Systematic Theology y vol. iii. p. 290. 

Dr. Nathan Bangs : "After a sinner is justified 
freely by his grace, he is made deeply sensible, and 
perhaps more so than ever, of the impurity of his 
nature, we freely admit : not indeed because he 
is more impure, but because the light of God's Spirit 
shining into his soul, now more clearly discovers to 
him the native impurity, the roots of bitterness 
within." — Article in Guide to Holiness. 

Rev. Wm. McDonald : " Regeneration and entire 
sanctification are not received at one and the same 
time, except, perhaps, in a few extraordinary cases, 
if, indeed, the case ever occurs." — New Testament 
Standard, p. 44. 



REGENERA TION IS NO T COMPLE TE PURITY. 1 1 7 

"The distinction (says Prof. Upham) is evidently 
made in the Scripture. The passages of Scripture 
where it is clearly recognized are so numerous and so 
familiar to the attentive reader of the Bible that it 
seems hardly necessary to quote them to any length." 
— Interior Life, p. 173. 

" We may love God more than all besides (says Dr. 
H. Mattison), and yet the elements, or seeds of all sin, 
linger in the soul." — Article in 0. A. and Journal. 

Bishop Janes : " There may be, and almost uni- 
formly is, subsequent to this moment when we pass 
from death to life, remaining in our converted souls, 
(not our backslidden, but in our converted souls} re- 
mains of the carnal mind." — Guide 1870, p. 181. 

Dr. G. Smith, F. S. A. : " But now the clearly 
observable distinction is felt to exist, that the mind 
has power over these corruptions, restrains their 
action, and looking to Jesus by faith, does not, even 
under their influence, commit sin. Yet the existence 
of these remains of corrupt nature is painful and 
dangerous." — Lectures on Theology, p. 203. 

Rev. Dr. Curry said in the Debate in the New 
York Preachers' Meeting : " This i carnal mind ' 
survives the work of regeneration, and is often active- 
ly rebellious in the hearts of real Christians." . . " The 
purified spiritual vision discovers a great depth of 
iniquity within ; and the quickened and tender 



118 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

conscience is convicted of and pained by deep in- 
wrought pollution." 

Rev. John Dick, D. D , in his Lectures on The- 
ology, says : "Although in regeneration, holy prin- 
ciples are infused into the soul, yet the change pro- 
duced is only partial No Christian grace is wanting 
in the regenerate man, and no sin or sinful inclina- 
tion retains its sovereign power ; but the graces are 
imperfect, and remaining depravity continues to op- 
erate, and sometimes prevails." 

Bishop Thomson, at the West Va. Conference, in 
his last clerical address, a few days before his death, 
said : " The justified and regenerate discover in 
themselves the remains of the carnal mind. If you 
accept the theory that you are sanctified when you 
are justified, if you find the remains of sin after 
3'ou experience regeneration, j^ou will be led to a 
melancholy conclusion. The opposite view, that we 
cannot be made pure, is equally pernicious." 

Rev. Richard Watson says : " That a distinction 
exists between a regenerate state, and a state of 
entire and perfect holiness, will be generally al- 
lowed." — Institutes, Part II. chap. 29. 

Rev. Dr. Dempster : " The denial of it is a position 
utterly novel. It is less than two centuries old. Till 
that modern date no part of the Greek or Latin 
Churches was ever infested with it. And in the 



REGENERA TION IS NO T COMPLE TE PURITY, 119 

Reformed Churches it was never heard of only 
among a few raving Antinomians." — Sermon before 
Biblical Institute. 

Dr. George Peck : " And believing, as I do, that 
the theory which identifies justification and entire 
sanctification, in point of time, not only wars against 
but utterly subverts the Scripture doctrine of sanc- 
tification as taught by our standard writers." Dr. 
Peck further adds : " And would it not be a sad 
indication of the degeneracy of Methodism in this 
country, if what Mr. Wesley, under God our great 
founder, considered heresy, and opposed with all his 
might, should be cherished as the very marrow of 
the Gospel by the ministers and people of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church? It is to be hoped that 
the day is far distant when such will be the fact." 

— Peck's Christian Perfection, p. 364. 

Bishop Foster says : "Believers are not by virtue 
of the new birth entirely free from sin, either as it 
respects the inward taint or outward occasional act." 

— Christian Purity, p. 107. 

To the distinction between regeneration and com- 
plete purification, all ministers of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church have fully set their seal in their 
ordination vows, or induction into the ministerial 
, office. The following questions have been answered 
in the affirmative, under the most solemn cirmm- 



120 CHRISTIAN PURITY, 

stances, by each one of the eleven thousand ordained 
ministers in our Church : " Have you faith in Christ? 
Are you going on unto perfection ? Do you expect 
to be made perfect in love in this life ? Are you 
GROANING AFTER IT?" — Methodist Discipline. 

More than one hundred thousand ministers of 
Christ have answered these interrogations in the 
affirmative during the past hundred years. The 
command of the Supreme God: " Be ye clean, 
that bear the vessels of the Lord" is the foundation 
of these disciplinary questions. 

Bishop Hamline wrote in his diary, in 1847 : " He 
who stands at the altar and repeats the usual an- 
swers to the solemn questions in the Conference 
examination, and then makes light of the doctrine 
of Perfect Love, is fit for almost anything but the 
pulpit According to Mr. Wesley, he is either a 
dishonest man or has lost his memory" 

A writer in a book recently published endeavors 
to make a point against the commonly received doc- 
trine of Christian purity, by asserting that hardly 
one in twenty of our ministers profess it, either 
publicly or privately ; and that even among our 
Bishops, its confessors are as hard to be found as 
among any other class of our people. 

While we are pleased with the spirit of the book, 
and the absence of all petty flings against the doc- 



RE GENERA TION IS NO T COMPLE TE PURITY. 121 

trine it antagonizes, we cannot believe its author 
has studied this subject as thoroughly, or given it 
the attention he should have done before writing 
against it. We are compelled to differ with the 
book in some of its statements. Instead of hardly 
one in twenty of our ministers professing it, as is 
stated, if it had said, there is hardly one in twenty 
who has not at some time during his life pro- 
fessed this blessing, it would, as we believe, have 
been nearer the truth. 

The fact is, as we understand it, the great majority 
of our ministers, have at some period of their life 
professed purity. As to our Bishops, from Asbury 
to Peck the most of them have professed it more 
or less. Those, whose testimonies in some form are 
not on record, are exceptions rather than the ma- 
jority. That all of them have made the subject a 
specialty, and professed the blessing as prominently 
as Asbury, Hamline and Peck, we do not claim ; 
but that a large share of them have confessed it 
at times we do know, and their lives have vindi- 
cated their confession. 

The author says Bishop Asbury did not profess 
it. Bishop Asbury left in writing, written year^ 
before his death — " I live in patience, in pu- 
rity, AND IN THE PERFECT LOVE OF GOD." I call 

that a profession of perfect love. 



122 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

Bishop Whatcoat, in describing his experience 
long after his regeneration, says : — " My soul was 
drawn out and engaged in a manner it never was 
before. Suddenly I was stripped of all but love." 
What is this but a profession of perfect love ? 

The materials in various forms are available to 
show that a decided majority of our bishops have at 
times made this profession. It will not do to take 
the position, that because a Bishop, preacher, or pri- 
vate member, does not profess holiness constantly, 
repeatedly, or continuously, he, therefore, does not 

profess it at all. Or, NEVER HAS MADE THE PRO- 
FESSION". If we judged the profession of justifica- 
tion and regeneration by such a rule, it would ex- 
clude a large share of the same persons, from a 
confession of any religion at all. 

We maintain from their writings,- diaries, and 
biographies, that a large share of our Bishops have 
at some time confessed salvation from all sin ; as 
that grace is commonly understood in the Church. 
The reader would be astonished to know how many 
of the prominent ministers of the Church HAVE 

AT TIMES PROFESSED THIS BLESSING. 

In some of our Conferences, to our knowledge, 
a large share of the preachers have professed to 
have " a clean heart:'' They have not all confessed 
it at the same time ; nor in the same terms ; nor have 



REGENPPA TION IS NOT COMPLETE PURITY. 123 

all given either the subject or the profession great 
prominence. Many may not have said much about 
it, not as much, perhaps, as they should have done 
— not so much as would have been pleasing to 
God, and useful to themselves and the Church. 

It may be presumed, the author of the book 
taking the position stated, may not have had as 
favorable an opportunity as some others, of knowing 
how many of the eleven thousand ministers of our 
Church, at times, have professed this blessing. Then, 
it is one thing to obtain a clean heart; another to 
witness to it y and quite another to retain it, and he- 
come established therein. 

Should it be asked why so many lose it ? We 
answer: when the chief ministers of the Church 
give this doctrine and experience the prominence, 
sympathy, and clearness in their teachings their 
importance demand, or when, in the language of 
Mr. Wesley, "all our preachers make a point of 
preaching Christian Perfection to believers CON- 
STANTLY, STRONGLY AND EXPLICITLY; " we shall 
hear of less losing it both in ministry and laity 
before they become established therein. 

Mr. Wesley said: "What a grievous error to 
think those saved from sin can not lose what they 
have gained ! It is a marvel if they do not, seeing 
all earth and hell are so enraged against them ; while 



124 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

meantime, so very few even of the children of 
God skillfully endeavor to strengthen their hands." 
— Works, vol. iv. p. 419. 

It is a fact of common experience, that the re- 
maining corruptions of the heart after regenera- 
tion, become sooner or later, matter of consciousness 
with every child of God — that all regenerate souls 
learn by sad experience, they were not entirely 
sanctified when converted; and they become amazed 
and humbled by the consciousness of their remain- 
ing corruption — their natural tendency to sin. 

In regeneration, as we have seen, are implanted 
the elements of all holy affections, and so long as 
justification is retained they are dominant, and not 
under the control of inbred sin. And yet, though 
its power is broken, so it does not reign, and the soul 
is not in bondage to it, — has victory over it through 
grace; its "root" or "seed," its inbeing and exist- 
ence remain, and often strive for the mastery. 

So long as it exists in the soul, the soul is not 
purified — not "complete in Christ." This is the 
doctrine which runs through our Theology, our 
Commentaries, our Discipline, our Hymn Book, and 
our Biographies. 

The human mind is ever inclined to go to ex- 
tremes. Truth usually lies between these € xtremes. 
Some attribute too much to justification audregen 



REGENERA TION IS NO T COMPLE TE PURITY. 1 25 

eration, and others too little. Those who attribute 
too much to it, claim at justification the soul is en- 
tirely sanctified, so that beyond that there is nothing 
of obtainable experience left, except simple growth, 
and development. The second error, of at tributing 
too little to it, is quite prevalent, and a serious one. 
Such regard it as comparatively an insignificant 
blessing, and compatible with but little difference 
between themselves and the world — that they can 
possess some religion, and live in neglect of duty, 
and even to some extent in violation of the com- 
mands of God. 

Whereas the justified state is'not consistent with 
committing sin, and is negatived by the commission 
of any sin. While the justified believer does not 
willfully commit sin, he may at times yield to the 
enemy under powerful temptation, or through weak- 
ness, ignorance, or want of reflection ; and may be 
blameworthy for negligence, or through a voluntary 
relation to his ignorance, weakness or carelessness. 
The neglect of any known duty will certainly bring 
the displeasure of God upon the justified soul. No 
man can " commit sin," or neglect duty, without 
being condemned before God. It is written con- 
cerning the justified soul : " There is therefore now 
no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." 

A professing Christian who lives in the commis- 



126 CttRlSTlAM PUklTY. 

sion of sin, is a sinner. The reader will note the 
following passages taken from the first Epistle of St. 
John: — "He that comraitteth sin is of the devil." 
Not he that committeth great sins, or little sins, or 
continues committing sin, but he that " committeth 

SIN IS OP THE DEVIL." 

" He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his 
commandments, is A liar." — " We know that who- 
soever is born of God sinneth not." — "Whoso- 
ever abideth in him sinneth not." — "My little 
children, I write unto you that ye sin not." — 
" Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the 
law." — " In this (committing sin or otherwise) the 
children of God are manifest, and the children of 
the devil." — " For this is the love of God, that ye 
keep his commandments." In another place it is 
written — " He that hath my commandments, and 
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." 

We do not teach any state of grace which admits 
of committing sin, and the least that justification can 
do for any man is to save him from all guilt, and 
keep him from committing sin. 

Many appear to think the difference between the 
merely regenerate and the entirely sanctified consists 
in committing sin or otherwise. This is a mistake. 
The difference is not one of committing sin ; it is 
not so much a difference in the outward life as in 



R&GRNERA TtOJST IS NO T COMPLE TB PURITY. 127 

the inward experience — the purity or impurity,— 
the moral state cf the soul. Neither the one nor 
the other can commit sin or neglect duty without 
standing condemned before God. All the duties of 
a Christian, as they are written in the Bible, are just 
as binding on one who is justified as one who is 
entirely sanctified. This should not be forgotten: 
every item of God's law is binding as much on the 
partially purified as on the entirely purified. It is 
a great evil that in many Churches the standard of 
justification is so low. 

We often hear people ask, — " Will God partially 
cleanse the soul? " " Can a new creature be only 
partly new?'' and "Can God do a thing imper- 
fectly?" 

Of what God can do, or what he can not do, we 
know but little, but we do know an objection based 
on ignorance must be powerless. Some things which 
He has done and is doing we know by experience 
observation, and Revelation. The same questions 
might be asked in regard to God's works in nature 
as well as in grace ; and, so far as analogy gives us 
any light, it harmonizes with Revelation. Progress 

IS CERTAINLY THE UNIFORM LAW OF NATURE. 

All God's works doubtless harmonize with His 
infinite wisdom and power, as well as with the 
highest wellbeing of his creatures, and are as com 



128 CHRISTIAN PURITY. 

plete at every period of their existence as their nature 
and relations will admit. Those asking these ques- 
tions might derive some light in contemplating the 
three great dispensations of human redemption — the 
Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian. 

Let it be understood that the favor of God and a 
title to heaven do not depend upon the highest per- 
fection of which our nature is capable. The babe 
in Christ is as truly a member of the family of God 
and as certainly an heir of heaven as a perfect man 
in Christ. After pardon, adoption, and heirship to 
heaven, it should be remembered that obedience to all 
the known will of Grod, our sanctification included, is 
the condition of retaining his favor, and our ultimate 
salvation. 

" Nothing resting in its own completeness 
Can have worth or beauty ; but alone 
Because it leads and tends to farther sweetness, 
Fuller, higher, deeper than its own." 

" Nor dare to blame God's gifts for incompleteness, 
In that want their beauty lies : they roll 
Towards some infinite depth of love and sweetness, 
Bearing onward man's reluctant soul." Proctor. 



*^c~Gf<&<$jcG)<&e)o^ 



CHAPTER VI. 

Christian Purity not obtained by 
Growth in Grace. 

TIIHE opinion has become somewhat prevalent 
J- among Christian people, that deliverance from 
indwelling sin — a state of purity of heart — can be 
obtained by the ordinary process of growth in grace. 
This we regard as a serious mistake and productive 
of much evil. We view it as un-Scriptural and 
anti-Wesleyan. 

The sin remaining in the regenerate believer, who 
is not entirely sanctified, as has been maintained, 
consists of inbred corruption. This is not sin, 
strictly speaking, which is " the transgression of the 
law," incurring guilt ; but original depravity, the 
soul's natural tendency to sin; — an inherited, inborn, 
sin ward inclination, the natural effect of sin, derived 
from Adam, and augmented by actual sin. 

" Sin committed, and depravity felt (says Bishop 
Foster), are very different; the one is an action, the 
other a state of the affections. The regenerate be- 
liever is saved from the one, and he has grace to 
enable him to have the victory over the other ; but 

129 



130 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAWED 

the disposition itself, to some extent, remains, under 
the control of a stronger, gracious power implanted, 
but still making resistance, and indicating actual 
presence, and needing to be entirely sanctified" — 
Christian Purity, p. 111. 

" These (sin and depravity) are coupled together, 
as if they were the same thing. But they are not 
the same thing. The guilt is one thing, the power 
another, and the being jet another." — Wesley' s Ser- 
mons, vol i. p. 113. 

Rev. Dr. Steele, in " Love Enthroned," says : 
" The spirit of sm, or inbred sin, technically called 
original sin, because it is inherited from Adam, is the 
state of heart out of which acts of sin either actually 
flow or tend to flow. Until this state is changed, the 
conquest of love over the soul is incomplete. Regen- 
eration introduces a power which checks the out- 
breaking of original into actual sin, except occa- 
sional and almost involuntary sallies in moments of 
weakness or un watchfulness." — P. 37. 

The reader will bear in mind the terms " inbred 
sin," "indwelling sin," " inherent sin," and all 
others significant of inward pollution, are not used 
in this work as signifying sin strictly speaking, but 
as alluding to the inward defilement or depravity of 
the unsanctified heart, which is not to be pardoned 
like sin proper, but is to be extirpated or cleansed 
from the soul. 



B Y GRO WTH IN GRA CJS. 131 

This carnal nature is inborn — inbred, and is a 
constitutional disease; like a family afflicted with a 
particular disease for a hundred generations, which 
is in their constitutions, and is transmitted from 
parent to child, from generation to generation. This 
depravity remaining in the heart subsequently to 
regeneration, as we have seen, and manifesting itself 
in the form of perverted passions, propensities, and 
appetites, at times struggles for indulgence and 
mastery — to regain its lost dominion. It does not 
involve guilt until it is assented to, yielded to, or 
cherished; condemnation being consequent only upon 
aGtual transgression, in sin of either omission or 
commission. 

The justified state involves grace to hold under 
control remaining sinful tendencies. Depravity does 
not reign; if it did, sin would be committed, justifica- 
tion forfeited, and a foundation laid for repentance 
from dead works. While the soul may be pained 
and afflicted by its inbeing and its struggles for 
ascendency , yet if it maintains its integrity, and the 
will remains right, no sin is committed, however 
much depravity may be felt. 

While the merely regenerate loves God supremely 
— above all else or every other object (to do less 
would be idolatry), he cannot love God with all 
his heart, until he is entirely sanctified ; or so long 



3 32 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

as this remaining carnality, or " inbred sin," as it is 
usually called, is not removed. This inward foe — 
the " carnal mind," which is " enmity against God," 
must be expelled before perfect love can be possessed 
or enjoyed. 

We admit, growth in grace, culture, development 
and sanctified habit will secure increasing light, and 
afford increasing power to overcome and hold in 
subjection remaining inbred sin, though they do not 
eradicate it or cleanse the heart. They may abate its 
force, but can neither change its nature nor remove 
it from the soul. Nothing can change the nature of 
sin, or pollution. It must be destroyed. The old 
leaven must be purged out. 

Growth in grace involves no more than its terms 
indicate; an increase of o\xy present grace, but not 
the extermination of remaining impurity. We are 
to grow in grace, but never into it. 

By every act, and effort of the soul in resisting 
temptation from without, or the risings of depravity 
within, it gains increasing strength, which affords 
easier victories over depravity, but does not exter- 
minate it, or cleanse the soul. So long as the regen- 
erate soul retains its justified state — no actual sin 
is committed — its light, and strength, and life will 
increase, though its inbred sin be not removed — 
simply conquered — subjected. 



BY GRO WTH IN GRA CE. 133 

Increasing light will reveal more clearly the re- 
maining deformity and impurity in the heart, though 
it does not remove it, as inbred sin cannot be shined 
out of the heart. An increase of 'patience will afford 
a more easy and complete victory over impatience : 
but that does not remove inbred sin — the cause of 
the tendency to impatience, which inheres to the soul, 
and cannot be removed by the mere increase or im- 
provement of any grace. An increase of love will 
secure a more easy and complete victory over all its 
antagonisms in the heart, but that does not destroy 
. or remove the cause of these inward sinward tend- 
encies. The same is true of every other grace 
of the Christian life. 

"Moral depravity (says Bishop Hamline) is not 
in action or deed, but lies FARTHER BACK, and 
deeper DOTVN in our nature, at the fountain-head 
of all activity and character. It is enmity to God, 
and like the fatal worm at the root of the vine, 
withers every green leaf." — Sermon on Depravity, 

This original, inborn sin, cannot be imperceptibly 
grown out, without a supernatural, conscious opera- 
tion of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is no natural 
work ; — is no inner process of nature like the growth 
of a tree ; nor something which follows as a matter 
of course to the justified state. Dr. Steele says, — - 
" It is the experience of the Christian world through 



134 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TA I NED 

all ages, that the converted soul never outgrows this 
taint in its texture and substance ." — Love Enthroned, 
p. 332. 

The difficulty which mere growth in grace does 
not reach — inherent depravity — lies deep in the 
soul, and is manifested in the wrong leanings, un- 
hallowed appetites, and propensities of the impure 
heart. In its essential nature as stated, it is not 
vicious acts or passions, but a corrupt state or condi- 
tion of the soul, which develops itself in vicious 
acts or passions; just as purity in its essential na- 
ture, is not holy acts or passions, but a pure state 
or condition of the soul, which develops itself in 
pure acts and tempers. 

As stated in the first chapter, it is not holy actions, 
primarily, which make a man holy, but a holy heart 
which makes the actions holy. It is a mistake to 
suppose that evil tempers and wrong inclinations 
constitute inbred sin ; they are its manifestations — 
proceeding from the uncleansed heart. The removal 
of this inborn corruption, the fruitful source of these 
unlawful risings, cravings, and tendencies, is in 
whole and in part, a supernatural work wrought by 
the Almighty Spirit and the blood of Christ. 

By growth in grace we may increase in knowl- 
edge ; habits of virtue may strengthen ; the graces of 
the spirit to some extent may become more and more 



BY GRO WTH IN GRA CE. 135 

mature, established, and fortified, and thus " inbred 
sin may be stunned," its power lessened, and its 
operations prevented; while the soul is yet un- 
saved from its inbeing and existence. 

The subjugation of depravity is not its destruc- 
tion or removal ; and growth in grace, which con- 
templates the subjugation only of indwelling sin, 
is no definite approach to entire sanctification. 

Its removal is an instantaneous — not a gradual 
work, a divine, not a human work. The soul is 
passive in purification : - — it is the subject, not the 
agent of the cleansing. It is active and co-operative 
with what precedes, and what follows the cleans- 
ing ; but the cleansing itself is something experi- 
enced, and not something done hj the soul. 

In repentance, humiliation, consecration, faith, 
and all active duties, the powers of the soul are 
called into exercise, and are not passive. The soul 
is passive in being cleansed, as it was in regenera- 
tion. Both are God's work. Both are supernat- 
ural. Both involve human agency. They are not 
accomplished by secondary causes, or natural causes. 

Purification is predominantly referred to the 
Holy Spirit in the Scriptures as his peculiar work. 

Dr. George Smith, F. S. A., a distinguished au- 
thor, says, — " And as we obtained pardon by sim- 
ple faith in Jesus, so must we obtain purity. We 



136 CHRISTIAN PURITY NOT OBTAINED 

are no more able to work out the latter in our own 
hearts than the former. One is as fully purchased 
for us by the blood of Jesus, and as freely promised 
us as the other. We must come then to the great 
and precious promises, and exercise a faith precisely 
analogous to that by which we were justified. We 
must fully assent to what God hath said respecting 
the remains of sin and its removal." — Lectures on 
Theology. 

This is pertinent, clear, and definite, and is in 
full harmony with Methodist teaching. 

Rev. Dr. Hodge, in his very able work — " Sys- 
tematic Theology," — saj^s of sanctification, it is 
not by a " mere process of moral culture^ by moral 
means; it is as truly supernatural in its methods as 
in its nature ." He further says, it is by faith, and 
God " becomes bound by his promise to accomplish 
the full salvation from sin of every one who be- 
lieves." — Vol. iii. p. 220. The reader will find 
many choice truths in Dr. Hodge's article on sanc- 
tification. 

Rev. Timothy Merritt, in his " Manual on Chris- 
tian Perfection," replies to the idea of a gradual 
sanctification, obtained by growth in grace, little 
by little, as follows : — " The work may be accom- 
plished in one day, or one hour, and yet be a grad- 
ual or progressive work. A long time is not nee- 



BY GROWTH IN GRACE. 137 

essary in order to a gradual work of this kind. 
The gradations may be as follows : — 

" 1. Light is imparted to the soul. 

" 2. Conviction is fastened upon the conscience, 

" 3. A desire springs up to be delivered from all 
sin. 

" 4. He confesses and prays for deliverance. 

" 5. He is convinced that he cannot cleanse his 
own heart, and therefore casts himself upon the 
mercy of God for this. 

" 6. The worh is wrought in him. Now, it is 
evident that these several actions may be per- 
formed in a short time." 

If this process be correct, as given by the sainted 
Merritt, and we maintain that it is ; how clear that 
the soul is not being sanctified or purified at all 
during what is called the gradual process, or dur- 
ing the first five items stated. Obtaining light, re- 
ceiving conviction, hungering after purity, and con- 
fession and prayer, are in no sense the work of 
sanctifying the soul. They may each exist, and 
the soul remain unsanctified. 

Receiving light does not cleanse us. Light is not 
given to wash the heart. The Scriptures nowhere 
teach that light has any cleansing properties for a 
corrupt soul. Defilement cannot be bleached out 
by shining light. It will shine away and dispel 



138 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

darkness, but not pollution. It reveals our inbred 
sin and the remedy for it ; and, while it cannot make 
us pure, it reveals the blood of Christ which can. 
The items named precede purification, but they do 
not effect it, (that is the work of the Holy Ghost,) 
and they certainly do not constitute its identity. 

The sinner passes through a similar process before 
his regeneration; but no one claims that his re- 
ceiving light and conviction, and his confession, 
prayers, and repentance regenerate his soul. They 
only precede that work, associated with its condi- 
tional cause. Bishop Foster says, — " This work is 
of God, entirely. Here, means do nothing : they 
only bring you to God, and He sanctifies ; without 
them you can not come to God, and unless you 
come he can not sanctify ; hut your coming does not 
sanctify, it brings you to him who does. You em- 
ploy the means only to bring you in contact with 
the agency. It is the fire which refines the gold. 
..*... The fire does not refine the gold unless it 
be brought ; the bringing does not refine ; it must 
be brought, and the fire must exert its agency. 
The soul is not sanctified by means, nor in the ab- 
sence of them." — Christian Purity, p. 219. 

Mr. Wesley says, — " God usually gives a consider- 
able time for men to receive light, to grow in grace, 
to do and suffer his will, before they are either 



B V GRO WTB IN GkA CM. 139 

justified or sanctified" Here Mr. Wesley teaches 
that the reception of light, growing in grace, and 
doing and suffering God's will, as a gradual process, 
usually precede both justification and sanctification ; 
but this process no more sanctifies the soul than it 
regenerates it. He doubtless used the phrase " grow 
in grace " in a restricted sense, as a man cannot, 
properly speaking, grow in grace until he is justified. 
Regeneration, as we have seen, is the impartation 
of spiritual life to the soul. God is its author. God 
alone regenerates. It is instantaneously done, and 
is the beginning of a new spiritual life. But this 
regenerate state admits of remaining carnality, — 
some " unrighteousness," — hence the need of fur- 
ther cleansing. 

While rights, ceremonies, sacraments, truths, and 
means of grace are all proper, necessary, and useful, 
they cannot cleanse the heart in whole or in part. 
Secondary causes and influences are utterly ineffi- 
cient to purify the soul, which is God's work. 
These secondary causes may help us to God, and 
aid us in reaching the conditions of the divine work. 

Will the reader please note carefully the following 
from Mr. Wesley : — " Indeed, this is so evident a 
truth, that well-nigh all the children of God scattered 
abroad, however they differ in other points, yet gen- 
erally agree in this: that although we may, 'by the 



140 CHRISTIAN' PURITY NO T OB TAIN ED 

spirit, mortify the deeds of the body ; ' resist and con- 
quer both outward and inward sin ; although we may 
weaken our enemies day by day ; — yet we cannot drive 
them out. By all the grace which is given at justifi- 
cation, ive cannot extirpate them. Though we watch 
and pray ever so much, we cannot wholly cleanse 
either our hearts or hands. Most sure we cannot till 
it shall please our Lord to speak to our hearts again, 
to speak the second time, Be clean ; and then only 
the leprosy is cleansed. Then only, the evil root, 
the carnal mind, is destroyed ; and inbred sin sub- 
sists no more. But if there be no such second 
change, if there be no instantaneous deliverance 
after justification, if there be none but a grad- 
ual work of Grod (that there is a gradual work none 
denies), then we must be content, as well as we 
can, to remain full of sin till death." — Sermons, vol. 
i. p. 122. This is clear and to the point. 

The struggles of inbred sin for indulgence may 
gradually cease, and from this consideration some 
believers have come to think their deliverance from 
sin a gradual process. While its efforts for the 
mastery or indulgence may gradually cease, it may 
still exist in the heart, in a stunned or dormant state. 
It may be brought under and kept under, and yet 
be neither dead nor expelled from the heart. 

Mr. Wesley says, " How naturally do those who 



B Y GRO WTH IN GRA CE. 141 

experience such a change (regeneration) imagine 
that all sin is gone ; that it is utterly rooted out 
of their heart, and has no more any place therein ? 
How easily do they draw that inference, I feel no 
sin ; therefore I have none : it does not stir ; there- 
fore it does not exist : it has no motion ; therefore 
it has no being. But it is seldom long before they 
are undeceived, finding sin was only suspended, 
not destroyed. Temptations return, and sin re- 
vives, showing it was but stunned before, not 
dead." — Sermons, vol. i. p. 385. 

The growing Christian may often have such com- 
plete victory over inbred sin, and it may remain so 
quiet in his heart as to lead him to think it has 
been removed, while it is only in subjection; its 
struggles for indulgence having ceased for the time 
being. Depravity is a constitutional, hidden, and 
often a latent evil. This principle, or carnal 
nature may remain when not active or in exercise. 

Purity is the result of a cleansing wrought in the 
soul by the Holy Ghost. It is wrought in the soul 
itself, and not in its actions or exercises. The change 
is in the state or moral condition, so that its inclina- 
tions are not sin-ward and corrupt, but Grod-ward 
and pure. In this state, pure dispositions are natural 
to it, and the principle remains when the disposition 
is not in exercise. Purity exists as a state, — a dispo- 



142 CHRISTIAN PUklTY NO T OB TAWED 

sition, — a condition, or quality of being. Though 
inherent, it is gracious, and is super naturally wrought. 

" Justification," says Dr. John Dick, " takes away 
the guilt of sin, or the obligation to punishment. 
Sanctification cleanses us from its stain or pollution. 
.... Sanctification is a physical or moral act, or 
rather a series of such acts, by which a change is 
effected in the qualities of the soul." — Lectures on 
Theology. 

Growing in grace is not the process of securing 
this state, or condition of soul. Growth is not the 
process of refining, purging, or separating sin from 
the soul, either before or after entire sanctification. 
Dr. Hodge says, " Nor is sanctification to be con- 
founded with the effects of moral culture or disci- 
pline." — Systematic Theology, vol. iii. p. 220. Grow- 
ing in grace secures an increasing abhorrence of sin ; 
an increasing knowledge of God, of ourselves, and of 
our duty. It secures an increasing strength of all 
the graces of the Spirit, which numerically are perfect 
in the regenerate heart. It secures an increasing 
attachment to Christ and his cause. While all this 
does not extirpate indwelling sin, it keeps it under, 
and renders victory over it more easy and complete. 

"Depraved inclination in the justified soul," says 
Dr. Steele, " is not outgrown by spiritual development, 
but killed by the power of the Holy Ghost through 
a specific act of faith." — Love Enthroned, p. 333. 



BY GRO WTH IN GRA CE. 143 

The soul must be sanctified by some other force 
than the natural laws of growth, as they are power- 
less to remove the carnal mind. No degree of growth 
can purify the heart ; that involves a 'purgation, an 
ablution, an extermination, a destruction. Note the 
Scripture illustrations in Chapters lit and iv. 

" Growth in grace, while accompanied by increas- 
ing power to abstain from actual sin, has no power 
to annihilate the spirit of sin, commonly called orig- 
inal sin." — Love Unthroned, j). 331. While a be- 
liever may deny himself, strive to do all the will of 
God, maintain a watchful spirit, and keep under his 
corruption, so that it has no power over him, yet his 
heart is not being gradually cleansed. It is often the 
case, while the believer is striving against his corrup- 
tion with all his might, the more it opposes him, and 
the more he is conscious of its presence and power, 
and of his own inability to rid himself of it ; and 
that this deliverance cannot be effected " by might, 
nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord" 

It should be borne in mind, the grace of purity is 
not achieved by the believer over outward enemies^ 
but is wrought in us, by the removal of an inherent 
depravity; — a purification, not by warfare and 
successive victories over depravity, but by the Holy 
Ghost. 

There is no Christian effort or exercise which 



144 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

can purge the soul from sin. The Scriptures no- 
where teach that the gradual advances of a Chris- 
tian by consecutive steps, or acts of obedience, are 
attended by a gradual cleansing of the heart, stain 
after stain departing, till every impurity is gone. 

As our original and inherent sinfulness was de- 
rived from Adam, so our inwrought, inherent puri- 
fication — our personal holiness must be derived 
from, and wrought in us ly Jesus Christ, our second 
Adam. Thus it takes supernatural, divine power 
to destroy this inborn sin, and remove it root and 
branch, so as to make an end of it. 

Expecting by an imperceptible growth in grace, 
to attain an entirely sanctified state, is a snare of 
Satan, and keeps thousands from obtaining the 
blessing of a "clean heart." Growth appertains 
to the development of the " new man," and should 
not be mixed up with the supernatural process of 
purification, in " perfecting the saints." 

We cannot grow clean. We can be washed chan. 
" Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." We 
can grow in grace, but not grow into grace, just as 
we can swim in water, but cannot swim into water. 
Growing in a state we are already in, and the grow- 
ing into it from some other state, are quite different 
things. As has been stated, there is no such thing as 
growing into regeneration or sanctification, and we. 



BY GRO WTH W GRA CE. 145 

can no more groiv pure, or work ourselves pure, than 
a sinner can grow or work himself into a regenerate 
state. Both are God's work. Both are by simple 
faith. Neither are wrought by culture, expansion, 
or enlargement. 

Rev. Wm. Readdy says, " This salvation is not 
reached by growing up into it, ' nor by works, as the 
Pelagians do vainly talk/ Weeds in a garden are 
not grown out by the growth of useful plants and 
vegetables, they must be dug or pulled up. Re- 
maining sin in the heart is not removed by the 
growth of Christian virtues." — Inside Views of 
Methodism, p. 61. 

Dr. F. G. Hibbard, one of the most accurate The- 
ologians of the Church, says, " It has long appeared 
to us that many who are seeking after entire holiness 
mistake the duty of a gradual growth in grace, and 
the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for a grad- 
ual growing oat of sin. They seem to think that the 
two mutually involve each other, and that as they must 
always grow up into Christ in all things, so they 
must by degrees grow out of the bondage, guilt, and 
pollution of sin." . . . " Now, to all such we would 
say one word of admonition. There is no gradual 
growing out of sin. All that partakes of the proper 
nature of sin in you must be forgiven and washed 
away through faith in the blood of the Lamb 



140 christian purity no 7 ob tained 

Whenever this is done, it is an instanta- 
neous WORK." . . . . " Sin is not a thing to be 
grown out of y but a thing to be forgiven and to be 
cleansed away." .... "In this view of perfection, 
(the improvement and maturity of the graces of the 
Spirit,) there are degrees and progressive stages ; 
but in the work of simply cleansing from all 
sin, both ' of flesh and spirit,' inbred and overt sin, 

there are NO DEGREES, NO PROGRESSIVE STAGES, 

but the work is complete at the first, and instanta- 
neous as to time, performed by the Holy Ghost just 
at the moment when the burdened soul has faith to 
be made every whit whole." — Editorial in N. C. 
Advocate. 

Rev. Dr. Fuller of the Baptist Church, in an ad- 
dress of rare strength and clearness, before the Evan- 
gelical Alliance, says, " Yet for all this it is true, that 
in subduing our depravities, one act of faith is worth 
a whole life of attempted faithfulness" . . . . " But 
we forget that salvation from the power and corrup- 
tion of sin, from sin itself, must be in the same way, 
that is by faith, the same as we are pardoned." This 
from Dr. Fuller is a clear presentation of purity, as 
obtained by faith, and not attained by good works, 
spiritual growth, or Christian culture. 

Mr. Wesley says, "Inquiring (in 1761) how it was 
that in all these parts we have had so few witnesses 



B Y GRO WTH IN GRA CE. 1 47 

of full salvation, I constantly received one and the 
same answer : ' We see now we sought it by our 
works ; we thought it was to come gradually ; we 
never expected it to come in a moment, by simple 
faith, in the very same manner as we received justi- 
fication.' What wonder is it, then, that you Vave 
been fighting all these years as one that beateth the 
air! " — Works, vol. vii. p. 377. 



**<?*&<&<&&?>&>*i> 



CHAPTER VII. 

Christian Purity not obtained by 
Growth in Grace. 

fTlHE fact that inbred sin is a unit, " an evil prin- 
ciple still infecting our nature," as Dr. Hodge of 
Princeton calls it, is proof that we cannot obtain 
freedom from it by growth in grace. 

Like error, inbred sin is a simple, uncompounded 
element or quality, and continues unchangeably 
the same, at all times and under all circumstances. 
It cannot be analyzed, and is not subject to any 
change; and in its essential nature, it can never 
be made anything else. Hence it cannot be divided, 
or sub-divided and removed by parts. Though it 
may have a hundred varied manifestations, it is 
the same " evil principle " in every form of its ope- 
rations ; and, while it may taint, or impregnate the 
whole soul, it usually has its leading channels, and 
these varying in different persons. 

St. Paul particularly describes the streams which 
flow from this fountain— " ad ulteryj fornication, 

uncleanness, lasciviousness ; . . . variance, emula- 
148 



CHRISTIAN PURITY, 149 

tions, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, 
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like/* 

In speaking of regenerate, but not entirely sanc- 
tified souls, Mr. Wesley says, " They now feel two 
principles in themselves plainly contrary to each 
other. ,, These principles he calls "nature" and 
"grace" St. Paul calls them " the flesh," and " the 
Spirit." Mr. Wesley attributes feelings of pride, 
self-will, anger, unbelief, and all the unlawful ap- 
petites, and tendencies to this " evil principle. 9 ' He 
says, " Sin remains in him (the justified and regen- 
erate,) yea, the seed of ALL SIN, till he is sancti- 
fied throughout." St. Paul says, — "If ye live after 
the flesh ye shall die ; " but, " As many as are led 
by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God." 

This "principle," or "flesh," or "nature," or 
" seed of all sin," or " indwelling sin," or, whatever 
it may be called, we maintain is not removed by any 
gradual process. As grace, or the "new man " its 
opposing principle or life was not implanted gradu- 
ally, neither is inbred sin, the antagonism of grace, 
exterminated gradually. "The way of the Lord" 
may be prepared, as we have seen in either case. 
These steps of preparation are receiving light and 
conviction, prayer, submission, and consecration. 

We repeat, as there was a gradual process before 
the principle of life was implanted, so there may be 



150 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

a preparatory process before sin is exterminated. 
The preparatory, gradual process in the former did 
not break the power of sin, and impart the " new 
life;" nor does the gradual preparatory work in 
the latter exterminate sin, or purify the heart. 

Dr. Steele says, " This spiritual development by 
growth is the necessary preparation for this de- 
struction of inborn sin." — Love Unthroned, p. 333. 

Inherent sin can not be removed by drying up 
its leading channels. Striving to purify the heart 
by removing one corruption, and then another, and 
so on, is not the way to purity. Depravity may 
'ake any one of a hundred channels. We can not 
purify the fountain by working at the streams. 
And while the fountain is corrupt, it is liable to 
break out in any direction. If we dry up, or close 
up one channel, it will only break out in another. 
So long as the " carnal mind *[ — the " root of sin" 
remains, it may spring up in any direction. 

Dr. Adam Clarke says, " In no part of the Scrip- 
tures are we directed to seek holiness by gradation. 
We are to come to God as well for an instantane- 
ous and complete purification from all sin, as for an 
instantaneous pardon. Neither the seriatim pardon, 
nor the gradation purification, exists in the Bible." 
— Clarke's Theology, p. 208. The reader will note 
this quotation from the celebrated commentator, 
as clear and decided on this subiect. 



BY GROWTH IN GRACE. 151 

Purification being by faith, is of necessity instan- 
taneous, the same as justification. The sinner does 
not repent of one sin at a time, and believe for the 
pardon of that sin, and then take up another, and 
so on, seriatim. He comes with all his sins, and is 
justified (pardoned) freely and fully, all at once, 
or instantaneously. 

In purification, God does not cleanse one depraved 
appetite and then another, until inbred sin is all 
removed from the soul. This evil principle or carnal 
nature, as has been stated, lies back of these evil ap- 
petites or propensities, and is their cause ; and though 
these are subdued and subjected, the seat of the diffi- 
culty— the inbeing of this carnal nature is not 
reached. Though we may conquer a depraved ap- 
petite or passion, our depravity still retains its life 
and strength, and often only works in a more con- 
cealed manner, or takes a different direction. 

While depravity is not a faculty of the soul, it 
does inhere in the soul, and is developed to the soul's 
consciousness, and in the soul's action, and has as 
positive entity as any other existence. Purit)*- or im- 
purity are as clearly states of consciousness as any 
facts of consciousness. The inspired writers refer to 
bodily disease as their most striking illustrations of 
it : and there must be a remarkable analogy between 
them, to justify this mode of Scriptural teaching, so 



152 CHRISTIAN PURITY NOT OB TAINED 

common all through the Bible. Disease not only 
deranges the action of the bodily organs, but often 
pervades, and inheres to, and affects the organs them- 
selves. This is true of all constitutional diseases. In- 
bred sin is the soul's disease. Christ is the great 
Physician. Holiness is spiritual health — freedom 
from moral disease. " By his stripes we are healed." 

Of this inborn impurity, Dr. Francis Hodgson 
says, "It is something which inheres in our moral 
constitution, and causes a deranged action of its 
powers." — New Divinity Examined, chap. 8. 

Mr. Wesley says, "You may obtain a growing 
victory over sin from the moment you are justified. 
But this is not enough. The body of sin, the 
carnal mind, must be destroyed; the old man must be 
slain, or we can not put on the new man, which is 
created after God (or which is the image of God), in 
righteousness and true holiness, and this is done in a 
moment To talk of this work being gradual, 
would be nonsense, as much as if we talked of gradual 
justification" — Journal of Mrs. H. A. Rogers, p. 174. 

It is clear that growth in grace has no fixed rela- 
tion to purity in any way. Growth never changes 
the nature of anything. A believer can not grow 
pure on the same principle that a sinner can not grow 
into a saint — growth not changing the nature of 
things. That which is pure may grow, or that which 



BY GROWTH IN GRACE. 153 

is impure may grow, and mere growth does not 
change the one or the other. If anything is defiled, 
washing or cleansing will make it clean. So of the 
human heart, the cleansing energy of the Holy Spiri 4 - 
can eradicate all its impurity, and make it clear 
through the blood of the Lamb. 

All the changes by growth or gradual processes 
are in size or quantity, and not in kind or quality. 
Purity pertains to quality, and not to size or quantity. 

Growth, ot gradualism is a pure naturalism. Puri- 
fication is a super naturalism, and is instantaneous ; is 
by faith, and therefore not by works. 

Mr. Wesley says, " As to manner, I believe this 
perfection is always wrought in the soul by a simple 
act of faith ; consequently in an instant" He further 
says, " Look for it then every day, every hour, every 
moment! Why not this hour, this moment? 
Certainly you may look for it now, if you believe 
it is by faith. And by this token you may surely 
know whether you seek it by faith or by works. If 
by works, you want something to be done first, before 
you are sanctified. You think, I must first be or 
do thus or thus. Then you are seeking it by works 
unto this day. If you seek it by faith, you may ex* 
pect it as you are ; and if as you are, then expect it 
now. It is of importance to observe, that there is an 
inseparable connection between these three points, 



154 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

Expect it by faith , Expect it as you are, and Expect 
it now. TO DENY ONE OF THEM IS TO DENY THEM 

all." — Sermons, vol. i. p. 391. 

While Mr. Wesley says, " Sanctification is both 
preceded and followed by a gradual work," he does 
not say that, that which he calls "indwelling sin," or 
"■nature," or the "carnal mind," or the "seed of all 
sin," is gradually taken away. This he represents 
as an instantaneous work. The gradual growth in 
grace, as he taught, does not include nor exclude the 
instantaneous. 

Dr. F. G. Hibbard says, — " It is hence Mr. Wesley, 
and also Mr. Fletcher, distinguish sanctification into 
two stages; the lowest degree is to be * emptied of 
all sin,' the highest to be ' filled with God. 9 To be 
emptied of all sin, to be ' cleansed from all unright- 
eousness,' is a work to be done by the Spirit of God 
immediately acting on the soul, through the truth. 
It is done at once, according to the faith of the 
believer, through the meritorious blood and right- 
eousness of the Redeemer. But to bring forth the 
Christian graces to the highest measure of maturity 
or perfection compatible with this earthly state, or 
with the moral capabilities of the believer, is a work 
of time, to be carried forward and performed, till 
the day of Jesus Christ." — J¥. C. Advocate. 

Many in our churches, make the serious blunder of 



BY GRO WTH IN GRA C£\ 155 

confining their attention to the outer, to the neglect 
of the inner life. They work at the streams, and 
fail to give their first and chief attention to their 
great necessity — purity at the fountain. They 
struggle in a life-long effort to raise the streams 
higher than the fountain, or to purify the fountain 
by working at the streams. Their only success in 
this effort, is to get the outward and apparent of 
their life out of all proportion or harmony with 
their inner and true character. " Who can bring 
a clean thing out of an unclean? not one." — Job 
xiv. 4. Here the power to get a pure stream from 
a polluted fountain is positively denied us. 

Rev. Daniel Wise says, " One chief reason (why 
many believers are not holy) is, that such seekers 
too often labor to mend their religious characters, 
instead of aiming at the purification of their hearts ; 
or, to express myself differently, they aim at the 
purification of their hearts by improving their char- 
acters, by striving to subdue particular sins. 1 ' 

Retrenchment, pruning, and lopping off excres- 
cences of the outer life purifies no man's nature. 
Sour sap in a vine or tree can not be grown sweet, 
or changed by any pruning process. Make the tree 
good, and the branches will be good ; then they 
will bear good fruit. God begins at the heart, and 
not at a man's fingers to save him, and make him 



156 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

a saint. He does not begin at the outer man, and 
cleanse his activities, but goes directly to the heart 
— the fountain, whence all corrupt streams flow, 
and cleanses it. Having done his work there, he 
says — "Now are ye clean." 

The nature of inbred sin is such as to exclude the 
idea of its improvement in any sense. It is evil, and 
only evil, root and branch, bud, blossom and fruit, — 
an abominable, accursed thing which God hates. It 
is a thing to be got rid of, to be exterminated. While 
it remains, the best we can do is, by the grace of God, 
to resist it, keep it under, and maintain victory over 
it It can not be improved by pruning, changing 
directing, or correcting ; it must be destroyed. 

" It is most true (says Mr. Wesley), that the root 
of religion lies in the heart, in the inmost soul ; that 
this is the union of the soul with God, the life of 
God in the soul of man. But if this root be really 
in the heart, it cannot but put forth branches. And 
these are the several instances of outward obedi- 
ence, which partake of the same nature with the 
root." — Sermons, vol. i. p. 216. 

It is admitted, the strength and vitality of inbred 
sin may be more and more paralyzed and stunned. 
But it still remains the same in its essential nature, 
so long as it has any being, or until it is extirpated. 
Until the living principle of grace is implanted in 



BY GROWTH IN GRACE. 157 

the soul at regeneration, no sinner becomes a Chris- 
tian; and until the remaining opposing principle 
of inbred sin is removed from the regenerate heart, 
no Christian is entirely sanctified. 

Christians can not grow into holiness, from the 
fact, that, in their nature, growth and holiness are 
distinct things ; growth is development and enlarge- 
ment; holiness is purity — freedom from sin. If we 
would have clear and correct views of this subject, 
it is necessary that we keep in mind the idea that 
growth, purity, and maturity are distinct. 

We may improve in habits of virtue, in resist- 
ing temptation, in treasuring up knowledge, and in 
overcoming, keeping under, and gaining easier vic- 
tories over inbred sin; but all this neither im- 
proves, changes, nor exterminates it. 

If Christianity can only hold a restraining or 
repressing power over our natural depravity, and 
can not destroy it ; in what is it superior to human 
philosophy, natural cultivation and discipline? If 
it can do no more than restrain the evil of our 
nature, does it not stand on the same level with 
human systems ? 

" We have the most indubitable evidence, (says 
Dr. Adam Clarke), that many of the heathen Phi- 
losophers had acquired, by mental discipline and 
cultivation, an entire ascendency over all their 
wonted vicious habits." — Clarke's Theology, p. 195. 



158 CHRIS TIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

Dr. George Peck clearly observes, " It will be re- 
membered that we have found sanctification to implj 
both the death of sin, and the life of righteousness. 
And when we speak of entire sanctification, as to the 
former part of it, we say it may be attained at once 
— it is an instantaneous work ." . . . "But in rela- 
tion to the latter part of this great work, viz., the life 
of righteousness, embracing all holy affections, and 
pious efforts, it is regarded as entirely progressive." 
. . . . " The destruction of sin in the soul, and the 
growth of holiness, are two distinct things." .... 

■M 

"The one is instantaneous, the other gradual; and 
hence it is that we sometimes say, with propriety, 
that the work of entire sanctification is both gradual 
and instantaneous" — Peck's Christian Perfection, 
p. 212. Here the death of sin is made instanta- 
neous, and the life of righteousness gradual, by one 
of the purest and ablest Theologians of his day. 

" We have already seen (says Bishop Jesse T. 
Peck) that there are two kinds of perfection — one 
in character, another in development. The first, 
applied to the body, means health ; the second, full 
growth." — Central Idea, p. 56. 

Growth in grace is essentially the same before 
and after entire sanctification. The only difference 
being in the former case, the reign of grace is some- 
what limited, having a powerful inward foe to an- 



B Y GRO WTH IN GRA CE. 159 

tagonize in addition to enemies from without. In 
the latter, grace has unlimited dominion in the soul, 
and its growth is unimpeded by anything within 
the heart. It has obstacles to its growth from 
without, and ever will have during probationship ; 
but all is peaceful, friendly, and right within. 

If growth in grace, is growth in purity, it must 
follow, that when the soul is wholly purified or 
cleansed, there can be thereafter no further growth 
in grace, since what is wholly pure can never become 
more pure. Every sanctified soul knows that after 
his purification, growth in grace is far more easy 
and rapid. The obstruction to growth, in the par- 
tially purified heart, is its inbred sin. This may be 
overcome, but is nevertheless a hindrance. The holy 
Fletcher said, " A perfect Christian grows far more 
than a feeble believer, whose growth is still ob- 
structed by the shady thorns of sin, and by the drain- 
ing suckers of iniquity " Though this obstacle is 
overcome by the growing Christian, let it not be for- 
gotten, that it is not removed in this way : growth 
in grace not being the process of separating sin from 
the soul, either before or subsequently to purification. 

Many appear to think increasing years must 
necessarily add to their personal holiness, without 
specially seeking a positive renovation from God. 
Neither years, nor means of grace, nor afflictions, 



160 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

nor active public duties will necessarily improve 
our moral nature, but rather dwarf it, unless at- 
tended by the Holy Spirit of God. 

The commands, exhortations and promises of God 
teach that purity is not by growth in grace. God 
desires, commands, and expects instant obedience. 
This cannot be done if holiness is obtained by growth. 
God commands — "Be ye holy," — "Be ye filled 
with the Spirit,"—" Be ye therefore perfect," — "This 
is the will of God, even your sanctification," — and 
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart." Just as surely as God desires and com- 
mands us noio to " be holy ; " now to " be perfect ; " 
now to "be filled with the Spirit;" and noiv to 
"love him with all our heart;" so surely is sin's 
destruction and heart purification instantaneous. 

All the commands, invitations and promises of 
God in respect to holiness are in the present tense. 
They are as clearly and definitely so, as those re- 
garding repentance, obedience, justification, and re- 
generation to the sinner. In point of time, their 
united language is, " Behold, now is the accepted 
time, behold, now is the day of salvation." 

Bishop Janes says, " We seek it, and seek it just 
as we sought our former attainment — by faith in 

Christ, we obtain it God is just as ready to 

sanctify as he was to justify, and the power may come 



B Y GROWTH W GRACE. 161 

as instantaneously and as consciously as it did in our 
first happy experience, and we may be just as con- 
scious that we are sanctified wholly y as we are that 
we are pardoned freely."— Guide, 1870, p. 181. 

The sacrificial blood of Christ, — his vicarious 
death is the efficacious and meritorious source of all 
purification. Evangelical faith in that blood on the 
part of the believer, is the procuring, proximate, con- 
ditional source of purity. The word of God is the 
divinely appointed instrumental source ; while the 
Holy Spirit is the grand efficient Agent. " Not by 
works of righteousness which we have done, but 
according to his mercy he saved us, by the wash- 
ing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Gchost" 
If the work of purification is thus wrought ac- 
cording to the word of God, it can not be by 
growth, nor can it be a gradual work. 

There is a serious and irreconcilable discrepancy 
between the Bible teachings, and a gradual process 
of purification by growth in grace. Take the fol- 
lowing precious promise and holy covenant, as one 
of a thousand scriptures on this subject: — "The 
oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that 
he would grant unto us, that we being delivered (not 
grown) out of the hand of our enemies, might serve 
him without fear, in holiness, and righteous- 
ness, before him, ALL THE DAYS OF OUR 



162 CHRISTIAN PURITY NOT OB TAINED 

LIFE." This passage must be seen to be in direct 
conflict with the idea of being ten, twenty, or thirty 
years in attaining purity by a gradual process of 
indefinite, imperceptible growth. 

All the terms and figures used in Scripture signifi- 
cant of purity, — those used to define and enforce it, 
— sustain the position that purification is a short and 
rapid work. They all imply rapidity and dispatch. 

First. Death by crucifixion. " Knowing this, 
that our old man is crucified with him, that the body 
of sin might be destroyed," &c. — Rom. vi. 6. Mr. 
Benson says, — " Our old man, signifies our entire 
depravity and corruption, which by nature spreads 
itself over the whole man, leaving no part unin- 
fected." Crucifixion is a short process. 

Second. Death by mortification. " Mortify 
therefore your members which are upon the earth," 
&c. — Col. iii. 5. Let the process of mortification 
commence, and go forward, and it will soon lay its 
victim in the dust. 

Third. It is represented as a process of creation, 
— " Create in me a clean heart, O God." " And that 
ye put on the new man, which after God is created 
in righteousness and true holiness." The process 
of creation, so far as we know, is instantaneous. 

Fourth. The cleansing of the leper. " Purge 
me with hyssop and I shall be clean." Leprosy was 



B Y GROWTH IN GRACE. 163 

incurable by human means, and its cure only effected 
by a special work of Grod, and effected in a moment 
The cleansing of the leper was an emblem of the 
removal of sin, and indicates an instantaneous work. 
The whole process was short. Christ said, — " I will, 
be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was 
cleansed." — Matt. viii. 3. 

Fifth. The process of refining silver and gold. 
" I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge 
away thy dross, and take away all thy tin." This 
is another rapid work, in which Christ is likened to 
a "refiner and a purifier of silver." 

Sixth. The working of leaven. " The kingdom 
of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took 
and hid in three measures of meal until the whole 
was leavened." Here is a short work, not exceed- 
ing twelve hours. The parable is plain, simple, 
and adapted to the weakest capacity. 

Seventh. It is represented as an ablution. "Wash 
me and I shall be whiter than snow." " Then will 
I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be 
clean" This figure, so common, and so significant, 
indicates a short process. 

Bishop Peck, at Round Lake, said, — " There is 
not a word of truth in it, and it is a serious mistake 
to trust to growing into a state of purity. God 
has exhausted the Bible symbols to get before us 



164 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

the idea that is exactly opposite of the process of 
growth, viz., that sin can be really taken out, and 
this is the reason why we are urging you to have 
it done to-day." — Penuel, p. 313. 

In harmony with these scriptures, Dr. Nathan 
Bangs says, " Those who teach, that we are gradually 
to grow into a state of sanctification, without ever ex- 
periencing an instantaneous change from inbred sin 
to holiness, — are to be repudiated as unsound — anti- 
scriptural and ajiti- Wesley an" — Article in Guide. 

Regarding purity as a result of long years of growth 
in grace, is a great and serious mistake of millions 
in the Church of God ; and also, in regarding 
growth in grace as being chiefly between regeneration 
and entire sanctification ; while duty and privilege 
demand it should be mainly subsequent to purifica- 
tion. These mistakes, I fear, have ruined millions. 
Vast multitudes in the Church seem to suppose that 
between regeneration and entire sanctification, there 
is to be a lifetime of growth in grace. 

If, as all believe, in a moment a work of such 
magnitude as regeneration is wrought, imparting 
spiritual life to a soul, dead in trespasses and sins, 
and removing its weight of guilt, grief, and doubt ; 
may not the remains of impurity be washed out 
instantly by " the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 
that we may perfectly love and worthily magnify 
his holy name " ? 



BY GROWTH IN GRACE. 165 

This work is effected by the same Spirit ; is 
wrought in the same soul ; is conditioned alike by- 
faith ; and, is likewise accomplished for the honor 
of God, and the wellbeing of the same person. 

Dr. Adam Clarke says, " For as the work of 
cleansing and renewing the heart is the work of 
God, his almighty power can perform it in a mo- 
ment, in the twinkling of an eye. And as it is 
this moment our duty to love God with all our heart, 
and we can not do this till he cleanse our hearts, 
consequently he is ready to do it this moment, be- 
cause he wills that we should in this moment love 
him. . . . This moment, therefore, we may be 
emptied of sin, filled with holiness, and become 
truly happy." — Clarke's Theology 9 p. 208. 



«^7-<S^5^c9^>^ ><^SJ, 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Christian Purity not obtained by 
Growth in Grace. 

pURITY is not a question of time ; growth in 
grace is. Believers are delivered from inbred 
sin, at all periods after their regeneration, — from 
one day to scores of years. We need not prove that 
many believers are not entirely sanctified until a 
remote period after justification. This is generally 
so obviously and so shamefully true as to need no 
evidence. 

Are believers entirely purified immediately after 
regeneration ? Let a divine answer, whose labors, 
observation, usefulness, and experience have not 
been equalled since the days of the Apostles. 

Rev. John Wesley says, — " Many at Macclesfield 
believed that the blood of Christ had cleansed them 
from all sin. I spoke to them, forty in all, one by 
one. Some of them said they received that bless- 
ing ten days, some seven, some four, and some three 
days after they found peace with God, and two of 
them the next day" — Works, vol. iv. p. 135. 

He gives an account of Grace Paddy, who was 

166 



CHRISTIAN PURITY, 167 

" convinced of sin, converted to Grod, and renewed in 
love, within twelve hours." In vindication of these 
experiences and many others like them, he says, — 
"With God one day is as a thousand years; it 
plainly follows that the quantity of time is nothing 
with him. Centuries, years, months, days, hours, 
and moments are exactly the same; consequently 
he can as well sanctify in a day after we are justi- 
fied, as a hundred years. There is no difference at all, 
unless we suppose him to be such a one as ourselves. 
Accordingly we see, in fact, that some of the most 
unquestionable witnesses of sanctifying grace were 
sanctified within a few days after they were justi- 
fied." — Works, ^o\. iv. p. 219.* 

The reader will find the same doctrine taught by 
the devoted and saintly Hester Ann Rogers, — " It 
is true, we may mortify, resist, and keep under those 
evils; but Jesus alone can pluck up and destroy 
every plant and root which his Father planted not. 
We may gradually grow in grace and holiness, and 
hereby increase in victoriously subjecting the en- 
emy within; but Jesus alone can slay the man of 
sin."-- Journal of H. A. Rogers. 

Bishop Foster says, — sanctification is " distinct 
in opposition to the idea that it is a mere regenera- 
tion ; holding it to be something more and addi- 
tional ; instantaneous, in opposition to the idea of 



168 CHRISTIAN PURITY NOT OB TAWED 

GROWTH GRADUALLY TO MATURITY OR RIPE 

ness." .... " And though there is progress toward 
it, yet that its attainment is not a mere ripeness en 
suing by gradual growth, but is by the direct agency 
of the Holy Ghost, and instantaneously wrought, 
however long the soul may have been progressing 
toivard it" — Christian Purity. 

Dr. F. G. Hibbard says, the cleansing baptism 
process is " not a new impulse merely to the innei 
life ; not a simple ' growing in grace,' it is distinctly 
a ' second blessing,' sent down from heaven, with 
all its appropriate evidences ; — an act of completion 
of the work of grace in the believer ; . . . promised, 
prayed for, waited for, believed for, received IN- 
STANTANEOUSLY by all classes of humble believers." 
— Qruide to Holiness, 1867. 

The uniform experience of all who have sought 
and obtained the blessing of entire sanctification, 
speaks decidedly on this subject. It has been found 
by experience, that purity is the result of a direct ex- 
ercise of divine power, received as instantaneously as 
regeneration: — "sanctified by the HolyGhost." 

So far as I know, the testimony of all who are 
clear in the experience and witness of purity, is that 
it was sought as a distinct blessing ; was obtained by 
letting go of every dependence but Christ, and trust- 
ing alone in his cleansing blood ; and was received 



B Y GRO WTH IN GRA CE 169 

in a moment Three things were distinct in their 
experience : 

First. They were conscious of inbred sin after 
conversion. 

Second. They were convicted of the privilege and 
duty of being cleansed from it and made pure in 
heart. 

Third. They sought and obtained a personal and 
instantaneous cleansing in the blood of Christ. 
These three items will be found, we believe, in ev- 
ery clear and definite experience of Christian purity. 

We may reasonably suppose that the great ma- 
jority of the Church are anxious to grow in grace ; 
but how many are getting clean hearts by such 
growth ? Let the vast multitudes answer, in all 
our Churches, who have been trying to grow in 
grace from one to forty years, and are still without 
freedom from inbred sin, and the witness of the 
Spirit that their hearts are clean. 

If there are those in our Churches, who have ob- 
tained purity by a gradual process of imperceptible 
growth, and have the witness of the Spirit to the 
work, they ought to give their testimony. And it 
is their duty to do it. " Ye are my witnesses, saith 
the Lord/' Many, many thousands have testi- 
fied, and do testify, to an instantaneous cleansing 
by the Holy Spirit 



170 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

Mr. Wesley : — " In London alone I found six 
hundred and fifty-two members of our society, who 
were exceeding cleak in theee, experience, 
and of whose testimony I could see no reason to 
doubt." . . . "And every one of these {after the 
most careful inquiry, I have not found ONE EXCEP- 
TION either in Great Britain or Ireland) has de- 
clared that his deliverance from sin was instantane- 
ous ; that the change was wrought in a moment. 
Had half of these, or one-third, or one in twenty, 
declared it was gradually wrought in them, I 
should have believed this in regard to them, and 
thought that some were gradually sanctified and 
some instantaneously. But as I have not found, in so 
long a space of time (more than thirty years), a sin- 
gle person speaking thus ; as all, who believe they 
are sanctified, declare with one voice, that the change 
was wrought in a moment ; I can not but believe, 
that sanctification is commonly, if not always, an 
instantaneous work." — Sermons, vol. ii. p. 223. 

Bishop Janes, in a sermon upon this subject, of 
great interest and power, at the Morristown Camp 
Meeting, said, — " Well now, what shall we do when 
Fletcher, and Benson, and Bramwell, and David 
Stoner, Drs. Fisk, and Olin, and Bangs, and tens of 
thousands of others have testified, both in life and 
death, that they are conscious of the hour and thn 



BY GROWTH IN GRACE. 171 

place, when God by the Holy Ghost cleansed thera 
from all unrighteousness.' ' 

Rev. Henry Boehm gives an account of the work 
of God in the days of Asbury, — in the following 
statements, taken from his diary : — " There were one 
hundred and forty-six converted and seventy-six 
sanctified during the day." ... a At sunset they 
reported three hundred and thirty-nine conversions 
and one hundred and twenty-two sanctifications." 
....." Peter Vannest preached at eight o'clock ; 
eighty-one converted that evening and sixty-eight 
sanctified." . . . "There were this day two hun- 
dred and sixty -four conversions and fifty sanctifi- 
cations." . . . . " There were eleven hundred con- 
versions and nine hundred and sixteen sanctifica- 
tions." .... " During the meeting there were re- 
ported thirteen hundred and twenty-one conver- 
sions and nine hundred and sixteen sanctifications." 

Here we have the work of God, plainly stated in 
the old Methodist way, by the venerable Father 
Boehm, the sainted centenarian of American Meth- 
odism, who was an eye-witness and participator in 
the meetings he reports. It is no wonder that 
Bishop Asbury wrote in his journal — " Our day of 
Pentecost has fully come." 

From the diaries, journals, magazines, biogra- 
phies, and histories of Methodism during a hundred 



172 CHRISTIAN' PURITY ATO T OB TAWED 

years past, several thousand such quotations might 
be given as the foregoing from Father Boehm. 

Mr. Wesley said in 1762, — " Many years ago 
my brother frequently said, ' Your day of Pente- 
cost is not fully come, but I doubt not it will, and 
you will then hear of persons sanctified as fre- 
quently as you do now of persons justified.'* " 

In the great revival of holiness during the past 
ten years, this blessing has been sought and ob- 
tained by simple faith in the blood of Christ, and 
enjoyed and testified to as a personal experience, 
by Christians of all denominations, and in every 
walk of life. Thousands of Methodists, Baptists, 
Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, 
Quakers, and others, in both Europe and America, 
have given their testimony to this experience. 

It has been the chief honor of our denomination 
that it has led thousands, and thousands into the 
light and enjoyment of this most precious grace, 
whose lives have been beautiful and fragrant with 
whatever is "pure, lovely, and of good report." 

So far as I know, this great " cloud of witnesses ,! 
have given testimony to an instantaneous work of 
the blessed Holy Ghost — a work of purification 
and not of maturity. This testimony has been 
given through a long succession of years ; given 
by living, intelligent, competent witnesses ; given 



B Y GRO WTH IN GRA CE. 173 

in prosperity and in adversity, in sickness and in 
health, living and dying ; and there is no power 
in earth or hell that can impeach it. 

Bishop Thomson, some years before his death, 
wrote as follows : " Its professors are now num- 
bered by thousands, and perhaps it is not saying 
too much to aver that they form the most loving, 
spiritual, and effective membership in the Churches 
to which they belong." — Editorial in C. A. and J. 

The fact that some, who are entirely sanctified, 
do not know the precise time when inbred sin was 
extirpated, no more proves a gradual purification 
than the same more common fact in regard to jus- 
tification proves a gradual regeneration. While 
many devoted Christians can not fix upon the pre- 
cise time when they were regenerated, there are 
but very few possessing the clear witness of entire 
sanctification, who can not tell the very time when 
the work was wrought. 

Experience teaches that man is as positively 
saved from the pollution of sin by faith in the 
cleansing blood of Christ, as that he is saved from 
the guilt of sin by faith in the pardoning mercy of 
God. The faith by which he is justified has regard 
to the promise of pardon, while the faith by which 
he is wholly sanctified has respect to the promise 
of cleansing. It is clear that the Scriptures give 



174 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

the same encouragement to the one as to the other. 
In both cases it is the same reliance on the promise 
of God and the blood of Christ. 

The beautiful analogy in the conditions and ex- 
perience of regeneration and entire sanctification, 
favors the idea of an instantaneous sanctification 
similar to regeneration. The sinner believes evan- 
gelically for pardon, and is forgiven, freely and 
fully. The Christian believes evangelically for 
holiness, and his heart is made pure, entirely and 
instantaneously. Each receives what he seeks and 
believes in Christ for. 

In view of its practical importance, the reader 
will allow us to give some authorities on this item 
beyond those already presented. 

Mr. Wesley : " I have continually testified (for 
these five and twenty years) in private and public, 
that we are sanctified as well as justified by faith. 
And, indeed, the one of those great truths does 
exceedingly illustrate the other. Exactly AS WE 

ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, SO ABE WE SANCTI- 
FIED by faith." — Works, vol. i. p. 338. 

" The work proper of cleansing the heart from 
sin (says Dr. F. G. Hibbard), is the work of God, 
always wrought through faith." 

Dr. Chalmers wrote to his sister, " If you rely on 
the blood of Christ, you will obtain forgiveness; if 



B y CRO WTH IN GRA CE. 175 

you rely on the Spirit of Christ, you will obtain 
sanctification." — Guide, 1867. 

Rev. Dr. Fuller, in his address before the Evan- 
gelical Alliance : — " Nor did you find relief, peace, 
strength, victory over your corruptions, until you re- 
paired to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness, 
until looking to Jesus, casting your soul upon him 
for sanctification, just as you did at first for pardon." 

Bishop Janes said in his sermon at Morristown, 
"These two blessings, pardon and regeneration, 
justification and sanctification, are here presented 
[i. John i. 8, 10] in the same manner, offered upon 
the same condition . . . the conditions of justification 
and sanctification according to the text are the same." 

Purification by faith, the reader will see, is stated 
in most of the quotations we have given. Purity 
being only by faith ; the reception of that which i& 
conditioned on faith, can only be obtained by be- 
lieving for it, and we can believe for only what we 
see and feel the need of. Light, conviction, and 
conscious need, must precede evangelical faith for 
the reception of any divinely promised blessing. 

Usually, regenerated believers do not feel the 
plague of their evil hearts, nor discover the depth 
of their own depravity until some time after their 
conversion. If they saw the depth of their deprav- 
ity, and the full extent of their Gospel privilege 



176 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

and duty, we have no doubt, they might, and 
would be pardoned, regenerated, and entirely sanc- 
tified at the same time. 

Rev. Dr. McCabe well says, "If a soul at the 
moment of justification and regeneration, were to be 
saved to the uttermost — sanctified in the sense in 
which we are now using that term — it would not be 
a salvation through faith ; foi* salvation by faith re- 
quires that the specific needs of the soul be met in 
answer to its specific faith. ' According to your faith 
be it unto you,' said Jesus. But a pleading, and a 
believing for pardon, are not a pleading and a be- 
lieving for full salvation from all inbred corrup- 
tion." — Lights on the Pathway of Holiness, p. 55. 

We will here say, consecration is a condition of 
faith. When the soul is entirely consecrated to 
God, faith is not only legitimate and possible, but is 
easy and natural. It is well-nigh spontaneous. To 
take hold of Christ fully, we must necessarily let 
go our hold of all else. Faith is not difficult, when 
the soul is in a proper condition or attitude to 
believe — when it is on believing ground. 

Faith is rest, repose, and not effort, and complete 
self-abandonment is the place where it begins. 
Faith is receptive, and is the point of transition, 
where the entirely consecrated soul receives the 
sin consuming power, and passes into the entirely 



B Y GROWTH IN GRA CE. 177 

sanctified state. Christ at that point, speaks — "Be 
it unto you according to your faith" Hence, by 
faith Christ our Sanctifier and Redeemer, is of God 
"made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctifica- 
tion and redemption." In every case, there is first 
2^ full surrender to Grod, and acceptance of his will; 
then an appropriating faith in Christ. The circum- 
stances attending these mental acts may be differ- 
ent ; perhaps they are never exactly alike. 

It is clearly seen that seeking a gradual purifica- 
tion, renders the attainment of purity impossible, as 
it excludes its proximate condition. Faith, the proxi- 
mate condition of purity, can be exercised only in 
connection with renunciation of all sin, entire sub- 
mission to Grod, and approval of all his known will. 
Conscious confidence — evangelical faith, and conscious 
rebellion — disobedience, cannot co-exist in the heart. 
The former excludes the latter. This renders evan- 
gelical faith for purity now, impossible. Evan- 
gelical faith and evangelical obedience, God hath 
joined together, and man cannot put them asunder. 

Grod's time is now — " Now is the day of salva- 
tion," and no man is cleansed from inbred sin, until 
he seeks it now. The great battle-cry of the Metho- 
dist Church during the past century, has been sal- 
vation now ! Feee and full salvation now ! 
And this glorious Bible truth has stirred the Prot- 



x78 CHRISTIAN PURITT NO T OB TAINED 

estant mind of this continent, and has been attended 
with a power that has astonished the world. 

The Protestant Episcopal Church has taught 
gradualism in spiritual things for more than three 
hundred years, and what has been accomplished? 
It is no time now for Methodists to teach purity 
by growth in grace, or by imperceptible degrees. 
Pushing this whole subject of Christian holiness 
into vague and indefinite generalities^ and teaching 
an unscriptural gradualism, is only giving en- 
couragement to laggards and drones in the Church, 
who are either backslidden, or living beneath 
their duty and privilege. 

The theory of imperceptible growth into holiness 
is quieting thousands, who ought to be aroused to a 
sense of their depravity and deficiency, their dwarf- 
ishness and infantile weakness. Growing into entire 
sanctification, is equivalent to deferring it indefinite- 
ly. Such souls are necessarily still looking into the 
future, and hoping to reach it by and by ; which 
amounts to an indefinite series of postponements. 

He who seeks the gradual attainment of entire 
sanctification, seeks necessarily something less than 
entire sanctification now; that is, he does not seek 
entire sanctification at all. He who does not aim at 
the extirpation of all sin from his heart now, tolerates 
some sin in his heart now. And he who tolerates 



BY GRO WTH IN GRA CE. 179 

sin — any sin, in his heart, is not in a condition to 
offer acceptable prayer to God for salvation from 
sin. "If I regard iniquity in my "heart, the Lord will 
not hear me" 

" We deny (says Dr. Hibbard) that a man ever 
yet gained the victory over any sin, while his will 
retained it, even with the most secret or tacit appro- 
bation. God will have a thorough work; and full 
salvation will never be given, but on condition of 

ENTIRE, UNIVERSAL, UNCONDITIONAL ABANDON- 
MENT of all sin, and acceptance and approval of 
all the will of God. Then, and not till then, will 
come the word that speaks us whole." — JSF. C. Ad- 
vocate. 

As it is by faith, it is instantaneous. Not neces- 
sarily in the " twinkling of an eye," at least so far 
as our perceptions are concerned ; but that it is a 
short, quick, rapid work, the same as regeneration. 
It may be instantaneous as a birth or a death; as 
a washing, or refining. Hence, instanstaneous, in 
contradistinction from imperceptible processes of 
growth or development. 

It may be said, " entire sanctification is a death 
to sin, and dying is a gradual process." If by dying 
be meant the separation of the soul from the body, 
strictly speaking, it is not a gradual process. The 
approach to death may be gradual, or it may not 5 



180 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

but a man does not die, and is not dead until the 
soul leaves the body, and this takes place in an in- 
stant of time. 

The Israelites were not gradually crossing Jordan, 
while going round and round in the wilderness, nor 
when travelling in the wilderness toivards Jordan. 
They were not entering into Canaan while ap- 
proaching Jordan ; nor were they out of the wilder- 
ness, or in Canaan, when they reached the banks of 
Jordan. Their approach to Jordan and their cross- 
ing that river were two distinct things. They re- 
mained wandering in the wilderness forty years after 
they first pitched their tents on its banks, in sight 
of that goodly land flowing with milk and honey. 

It is certain death is instantaneous, although its 
approach is often gradual. So long as the soul re- 
mains in the body, the whole of it remains, and the 
man is positively alive ; when it departs, the whole of 
it leaves, and the man is actually dead. All that is 
essential to life, and in life, exists and remains as 
long as there is any life at all. At the moment of 
death something takes place, which did not take 
place before — something essentially different from 
anything in approaching death. Millions die with- 
out any gradual process. As there is a last moment 
when the soul possesses the body, so there is a first 
moment when the body is dead — tenantless. 



BY GEO WTH IN GRA CE. 181 

Bishop Hamline alluding to this item remarks, 
"Though purity is gradually approached, it is in- 
stantaneously bestowed." 

From the instant the penitent sinner is regener- 
ated, may the gradual work of growth, development, 
and increasing light make progress in the soul. As 
in the case of a man approaching death, he may 
approach nearer and nearer the hour and moment 
of death to inbred sin, or deliverance from it. But 
his gradual approach to that moment, is a very dif- 
ferent thing from the fact of his deliverance. The 
gradual approach to death is essentially different 
from what occurs at death — and the fact of being 
dead. 

Thousands of people approach very near to death, 
by gradual or very short processes, who do not 
die, but live for many years. When very near 
death, or at the moment just before death, the soul 
is all there, no part of it has left, much less has 
nearly all of it departed. 

Many believers seeking purity, approach very 
near the destruction of inbred sin, (Israel on the 
banks of Jordan) yet, it is not destroyed, and they 
live on with all its inbeing during many years, — 
Israel wandering forty years in the wilderness. 

It is often objected to an instantaneous purifica- 
tion, that the work of grace in the heart, is ill us- 



182 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

trated by growth in the vegetable kingdom, — " first 
the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
ear." This beautiful inspired figure teaches and 
illustrates Christian growth and maturity, but has 
no reference to Christian purity. As we have seen, 
there are two classes of commands and figures, run- 
ning through the Scriptures, enjoining and illustrat- 
ing Christian duty and privilege. One class has 
regard to holiness — purity ; the other to growth, de- 
velopment and maturity. The first class respecting 
purity are very numerous, while those regarding 
growth and maturity are comparatively quite limited. 

To argue a gradual purification from a Scripture 
command or figure, given to enjoin and illustrate 
growth in grace, is to reason from false premises. 
On the other hand, to argue an instantaneous ma- 
turity — growth to manhood in a day, from com- 
mands and figures given to enjoin and illustrate 
purity, is equally illogical and erroneous. 

The parable of the mustard seed, with its growth, 
represents the general workings and spread of 
Christianity in the earth. It would be difficult to 
prove it has any direct reference to the purification 
of the human heart. 

The parable of the leaven in the meal doubtless 
has reference to the work of grace in the soul, but it 
indicates a short and rapid work. Every woman 



BY GRO WTti IN GRA CE. 183 

knows, it accomplishes its work in a few hours or 
never. 

It has been asked, " Is not growth in grace, 
growth towards entire holiness ? " If it be meant : 
is growth in grace in the common acceptation of the 
term, the process of gradually cleansing the soul ? 
we answer, No. If it be meant : is real growth in 
grace an increase of spiritual life and power ? we 
answer, Yes. If it mean : does growth in grace 
involve an approach toward the conditions and time 
of entire sanctification ? we answer, Yes. 

Some years since, Dr. Hiram Mattison stated in 
a speech in the New York Preachers' Meeting, 
and through the Christian Advocate and his book, 
to the world, that the writer told him, — " A man 
might grow in grace for seventy years, and not be a 
particle more holy, nor a step nearer to entire sancti- 
fication than when first converted." This unhappy 
statement we disclaim, and did so to the Doctor 
before he went hence to Paradise. The misstate- 
ment has most likely done mischief in creating 
unfounded prejudice, having never been publicly 
corrected. 

What we said to Dr. M. was : "A man may grow 
in grace in the usual or ordinary sense, for twenty 
years or more, and yet not possess the witness of his 
entire sanctification" This we believe and repeat 



1 84 CHRISTIAN PURITY NO T OB TAINED 

now. As this book treats and elaborates this sub- 
ject, and as the statement uncorrected is still in print, 
we have regarded it duty to make this correction. 

It may be said, the Scriptures nowhere affirm 
sanctification to be instantaneous. If this be true 
(which we do not believe), then it may be replied, 
the Scriptures nowhere directly affirm the instanta- 
neousness of justification and regeneration, yet 
everybody regards them as instantaneous. This 
supposed omission no more indicates a gradual 
purification, than a gradual regeneration. 

Sanctification is spoken of in the Bible, just as 
justification, regeneration, and adoption are, as an 
accomplished fact It being God's work, wrought 
by his power, it may be supposed like its kindred 
blessings, to be instantaneous rather than gradual. 

That which is wrought by the direct exercise of 
divine power in religious experience, is done in a 
moment, while that which is produced by growth 
and natural causes is necessarily gradual. We re- 
peat, the process of cleansing away inbred sin, and 
that of growth and maturity are two distinct things, 
and are so recognized by theologians, as we have 
seen ; and they should not be identified or con- 
founded. Much of the confusion existing in ref- 
erence to this doctrine arises from the neglect 
of this distinction. Those who do this, can usually 



B Y GROWTH IN GRA CE. 185 

see no purification after regeneration but in the 
line of growth or development. 

What is produced by growth is of necessity 
gradual, what is by faith and the Holy Ghost is of 
necessity instantaneous. 

God never accomplished that by cleansing power 
wnich is to be secured by growth in grace. On the 
other hand, growth in grace cannot effect that which 
is the work of the creating, cleansing energy of the 
Almighty Spirit. The one is a supernatural, instan- 
taneous work ; the other a gradual, natural work. 

Pardon, life, adoption and purity represent the 
definite, instantaneous and supernatural in religious 
experience ; while " children," — " young men," — 
" fathers," — and " perfect men " represent the 
indefinite and gradual — the result of growth and 
development. 

These truths are no fictions, nor theological spec- 
ulations, but blessed realities, which millions have 
attested, and for which millions more will go to the 
judgment to answer for neglecting. 



CHAPTER IX. 
C hristian Maturity. 

r IFE, purity, and maturity, these three prominent 
facts stand forth in Bible teaching as distinct. 
A proper regard to these distinctions would have 
saved the Church from much of her controversy 
on the subject of Christian Holiness. 

Dr. Wm. Nast, in his address before the Evan- 
gelical Alliance, said respecting religious experience, 
— " There are three chief facts, viz. the impartation 
of spiritual life to the soul in regeneration ; the 
cleansing of the heart from all moral impurity, 
through the sanctification of the Spirit ; and the 
maturity of the Christian character." 

Life, which is imparted in regeneration, and re- 
ceived by faith, is the first and indispensable requisite 
of growth, and is the foundation of all maturity. 
The natural tendency of life is growth, and all life 
depends upon it ; everything that has life begins to 
decay when it ceases to grow. Hence the very 
existence of Christian life depends upon its progress. 

Nothing in the universe, so far as we can see, is 

capable of so much growth as our spiritual nature, 
160 



CHRISTIAN MA TURITY. 18? 

Spiritual life is the highest possible life, and has 
the greatest capabilities of enlargement. 

Physical growth is often great; intellectual 
growth is still greater ; but neither are equal to the 
possible development of man's spiritual nature. God 
has given laws to each, and adjusted principles of 
growth to them, and each has a living progressive 
power. Our spiritual being may progress more and 
still more through all future ages. God dwelleth 
in us, his love 'perfected in us ; and still our love 
may abound yet more and more. 

Purity in a progressive being can exist only in 
harmony with its growth and development. 

As there were steps preparatory for and prelimi- 
nary to regeneration, and the same in regard to 
purification ; so there are conditions and prelimi- 
naries to Christian growth and maturity. After the 
reception of spiritual life in regeneration, and after 
purification through the blood of Jesus, the way is 
open for an unobstructed growth to " the measure 
of the stature of the fullness of Christ." 

By growth in grace, as we have seen, we do not 
understand growth from the vicious to the virtuous, 
or from defilement to purity ; but the expansion and 
development of every virtue implanted in the soul 
at the new birth. Maturity, which of necessity must 
be comparative and relative^ applied to an advanced 



188 CHRISTIAN MA TURITY. 

state of all the graces of the new man, involving 
age, growth, discipline, cultivation and development. 

Maturity is necessarily gradual, progressive, and 
indefinite; incomplete in this life, and very likely 
will be in the world to come. In this respect, the 
whole Christian life is to be one of progress ; there 
being ample room for growth at every period of 
its existence, and especially after the heart is 
cleansed, which perfects the conditions of the most 
solid, rapid, symmetrical growth. 

Identifying and confounding maturity with pu- 
rity, lies at the base of nearly every objection we 
have seen to an instantaneous sanctification ; espe- 
cially is this true of those who regard growth in 
grace a cleansing process. How often the objection, 
— " I do not believe in this mushroom growth," or 
" this jumping into twenty years' experience by 
an instantaneous work." 

In the sense the objector means, he is right. 
There is no instantaneous growth to manhood. No 
child of God is cleansed into Christian maturity. 
No babe in Christ jumps into a maturity involving 
twenty j^ears of growth, discipline and development. 
But a babe in Christ may at once be cleansed from 
all inbred sin, and thus become a pure Christian, 
which is quite different from a mature Christian. 
These objections, as is clearly seen, identify purity 



CHRISTIAN MA TURITY. 180 

with maturity, and with the objector these terms are 
used synonymously. This makes serious confusion. 

Rev. L. R. Dunn says, — "Holiness is not maturity. 
There may be moral wholeness where there is much 
that is immature and imperfect. A child may be 
healthy and perfect as a child, but it is not there- 
fore a man, Maturity is the result of growth, disci- 
pline, development." — Holiness to the Lord, p. 56. 

We must distinguish between spiritual purity 
and spiritual development. Christian purity, a 
present privilege and duty, is very different from 
Christian maturity, which is largely a subsequent 
attainment, subject to the laws of growth, involv- 
ing time, and an advanced religious life. 

Spiritual purity refers more to our past and 
present state — the removal of original and ac- 
quired depravity ; spiritual development refers 
to the future — our progressive nature and the 
growth of the Christian virtues. 

The difference between an infant and a man is one 
of growth and development, as a child is a perfect 
human being, possessing all the constituent parts of 
a full-grown man — a man in miniature. This, 
very properly, illustrates religious growth and ma- 
tvrity, but never purification. No child becomes a 
full-grown man instantaneously. The Christian is 
not made large by instantaneous cleansing, but 
pure. And, he may be pure and yet immature. 



190 CHRISTIAN MA TURITY. 

No one is born into maturity, and no one 
grows into purity. The Bible nowhere promises 
maturity by faith, instantaneously ; purity, it does. 

The advanced attainments of spiritual manhood 
are attained by growth, and purity perfects the con- 
ditions of that growth. After purity, growth in 
grace may be more or less rapid, according to 
watchfulness, diligence, study of Scripture, prayer 
and ministries of the Spirit. The " babe in Christ/' 
though possessing all the essential elements of the 
new life, has a diseased nature — "yet carnal," 
which needs cleansing ; and, when cleansed, he is 
not a mature Christian, he is still " a babe in Christ " 
— a pure, though an immature Christian. 

Bishop Foster says, — "A being of inferior ca- 
pacities may be as free from the taint of sin, 
as one of much more exalted powers." — Christian 
Purity, p. 71. 

It will be admitted, human nature is the same 
in all unregenerate men, though subject to various 
modifications by surrounding circumstances. Re- 
generate nature, though specifically the same, is sub- 
ject to like modifications of temperament, capacity, 
education, and other circumstances. The same holds 
true of entire sanctification; which,though essentially 
the same in every case, is consistent with many unes- 
sential modifications, which many appear to disallow. 



CHRISTIAN MA TUklTY. i 9 1 

There are "babes/' "young men," and "men of 
full age," in a state of entire sanctification. We 
should not fail to distinguish between them, and 
bear in mind that maturity is to be understood 
only in a relative sense. 

Holiness, as has been seen, is expressive of moral 
quality, and not a name significant of an advanced 
process of religious growth or maturity. 

A small young apple-tree may bear as good fruit 
in quality or kind, as a much larger tree. It may 
also bear fruit to its utmost capacity and strength, 
just as perfectly as a larger tree. The husbandman 
expects fruit from it only according to its capacity. 
He looks upon growth to increase its capacity for 
fruitfulness ; but not to change the nature or quality 
of the fruit. So a babe in Christ, after being 
entirely purified, may love God just as purely, fully, 
and with all his heart — to the extent of his ca- 
pacity, as an adult Christian. 

Mr. Wesley's definition, — "Pure love reigning 
alone in the heart," may be possessed just as posi- 
tively by the " babe in Christ," cleansed " from all 
sin ; " as by the " man in Christ." 

Water in a small channel may be just as pure, 
and it may fill its channel just as perfectly, as in a 
much larger one. And a pure stream may increase 
in volume and power. Perfection in quality does 



192 



CHRISTIAN MATURITY. 



not exclude increase in quantity. The powers of 
the soul are improvable, and its capacities are ex- 
pansive. Bishop Foster says : " If a finite soul be 
to its utmost capacity filled with love, it is per- 
fectly holy, though its capacity be capable of end- 
less expansion." — Christian Purity ', p. 77. 

Dr. John Dempster, in a sermon heretofore al- 
luded to, says: "The difference between these 
two states, is moral, not physical, owing not to one 
being more largely developed than the other, but to 
one being more pure than the other." 

These quotations recognize the difference be- 
tween simple moral cleanliness — purity, and matu- 
rity — an advanced development in purity, or spirit- 
ual manhood. These ideas, and their processes are 
totally distinct. We must know there is a differ- 
ence between purity or entire sanctification in its 
infancy and in maturity — as an advanced, estab- 
lished, and confirmed state of purity. The purified 
soul by growth, confirmation, and the law of habit 
becomes "rooted and grounded in love." 

Dr. Dempster says, — " Beyond sanctification 
there is no increase in purity, but increasing in- 
crease in expansion." 

"Purity is to be distinguished from maturity. 
When inbred sin is destroyed there can be no in- 
crease of purity, but there may be an eternal in- 



CHRISTIAN MA TVRITY. 193 

crease in love, and in all the fruits of the Spirit." 
— Binnetfs Theological Compend. 

Bishop Hamline says, " The field may be cleared 
of weeds, while the tender blade is springing up, 
and months may be necessary to grow the grain. 
So the heart may be cleansed from all sin, while 
cur graces -ARE immature, and the cleansing is 
a preparation for their unembarrassed and rapid 
growth." — Sermon, Beauty of Holiness, 1862. 

There may be a large difference in the measure 
of grace in those who are wholly imrified, while 
there is an essential sameness as to their purity. 
The graces of the Spirit may exist in the soul with 
much variety of strength and measure, while there 
is no alloy, or sin in it, this being the test of its 
purity, according to the word of God. 

The word perfection does not always imply 
equality. Two apples, each perfect, growing on 
the same tree, may be equally sound, ripe, and de- 
licious ; and, as to quality exactly identical, yet one 
may be much larger than the other. Their differ- 
ence is in size and not in quality. And growth 
does not change their quality. 

Millions of Christians die in immaturity, and are 
saved. They have been cleansed, and they die in 
the arms of Christ, and in good hope through grace. 
Maturity is nowhere made a condition of entrance 
into h°aven, while parity is. 



194 christian* Maturity. 

Making the foregoing easily understood and clearly 
revealed distinctions, relieves this subject of diffi- 
culties which have greatly perplexed multitudes 
of good men. The only way to understand Mr. 
Wesley, is to observe these distinctions, which some 
failing to do have made that great and good man 
contradict himself. The same is eminently true in 
regard to the Bible, which is as clear as light, on the 
precious fundamental doctrine and duty of Christian 
holiness. 

Maturation is the process of. being " established, 
strengthened, settled ; " — the being " rooted and 
grounded " in the love and grace of God. It is, 
advancing toward "the length, the breadth, the 
depth and the height," involved in a life of obedi- 
ence to God. Maturation is " giving all diligence, 
adding to your faith virtue; and to virtue, know- 
ledge ; and to knowledge, temperance ; and to tem- 
perance, patience ; and to patience^ godliness ; and to 
godliness, brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kind- 
ness, charity." 

So far as I know, all orthodox Christians teach 
the doctrine of total depravity, and that those totally 
depraved may wax worse and worse, becoming more 
and more degenerate, and sinking deeper and deeper 
in moral degradation. " Bat evil men and seducers 
shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being de- 



CHRISTIAN MA TURITY. 195 

ceived." Why may we not with equal propriety, 
teach that those cleansed from all impurity, may 
increase more and more rapidly in all love, knowledge, 
and goodness? If wealth and health enable a man 
to accumulate property easier and more rapidly than 
one in a state oi poverty and sickness ; will not purity, 
which is the souPs health and wealth, prepare it to 
grow with increasing vigor, beauty, and symmetry ? 

Vegetables in a garden cleansed from weeds and 
grass will grow more thriftily than otherwise, nor will 
they cease to grow when every noxious thing is 
exterminated. No gardener would have fears that 
»^a destroying the weeds he would cause the vege- 
tables to cease growing : — rather, they would grow the 
more rapidly. 

A tree pruned, and all worms and insects cleansed 
from it, will not cease to grow, but will grow all 
the faster. A healthy child will grow in stature 
and strength more rapidly and beautifully, than 
one sickly or possessed of some constitutional dis- 
ease. All disease or deformity obstructs growth, 
while health is its most essential condition. Thus 
when the carnal mind is destroyed, with all its mis- 
erable lusts — every root of bitterness exterminated, 
and all spiritual disease " healed/' the soul will grow 
with increasing thriftiness and uniformity. 

If our capacity is obstructed, is partially occupied 



196 CHRISTIAN MATURITY. 

with an opposing principle — inbred sin ; then our 
love must be defective, nor do we love God with all 
our heart. 

The nature and process of growth and maturity- 
are set forth by the Saviour, and illustrated by the 
advancing harvest, — " First the blade, then the ear, 
after that the full corn in the ear ;" and by the grain 
of mustard seed, whitfh grew until it became a tree 
and the fowls of the air lodged in it. These figures 
indicate growth, and an advancing maturity necessary 
to accomplish the processes of its existence; and 
without which the laws of their existence would be 
violated. 

The Apostle expresses it as follows : " Till we ak 
come . . . unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fullness of Christ." St. John, 
having regard to the stages of growth and develop- 
ment, recognizes " little children" " young men" and 
"fathers " as the result of a growth of all the parts, 
members, and graces constituting " a babe in Christ" 
A little child has all the parts and lineaments of a 
man. The "babe in Christ" has all the essential 
elements of the new spiritual life. He has them, 
not merely in infancy, but in connection with inbred, 
sin — in a nature " yet carnal." 

Bishop Foster says, — " Though in regeneration all 
the elements of holiness are imparted, all the rudi- 



CHRISTIAN MATURITY. 197 

merits of inbred sin are not destroyed, and hence, 
again, the absence of complete sanctification, which, 
when it occurs, expels all sin." — Christian Purity, 
p. 109. 

The necessity and importance of religious growth 
no one will question. In the spiritual world, the 
great law of life is growth. The Christian cannot 
cease to grow without danger. To keep any religion 
at all we must grow in grace. 

The Christian who does not grow becomes peevish, 
fretful and unhappy, like a child that has ceased to 
grow. Is this not the reason why so many profes- 
sors of religion have become weak, uneasy and 
dissatisfied f In nature, when growth ceases, decay 
and death are at hand. When a child ceases to 
grow, it starts for the grave. Not to progress is to 
regress, and regression is destruction. 

In regeneration, spiritual growth is like the slow 
progress of wheat choked and made sickly by the 
intermingling tares. The growing wheat may 
represent the graces of religion, and the tares our 
remaining corruptions. While these remain they 
are always in the way of the former. Entire sancti- 
fication removes them — roots them out of the heart, 
and leaves it a pure moral soil. It is then that the 
graces of the Spirit have a luxuriant growth, and 
bear the fruits of righteousness to the praise and 
glory of God. 



198 CHRISTIAN MA TURITY. 

When the heart is thus cleansed, it is freed from 
all obstacles to the Holy. Spirit's most gracious 
workings. Then it is prepared to progress as never 
before, and every breath of divine inspiration, every 
ray of divine light, and every act of religious duty 
tends to strengthen and establish it in a life of 
holiness. 

If the soul loved God with all its power, Bishop 
Foster says, — "It would not henceforth remain 
stationary, but rather quickened with a deeper life, 
its growth would become more rapid." 

"It is only when all sin is cleansed from the 
heart, (says Dr. F. G. Hibbard), when the whole 
desire centres on God, and the whole consent of the 
will embraces each and every command of God — 
that the virtues of Christ or the graces of the Spirit 
can grow with unimpeded progress" — N. C. Advocate* 
Maturity can be predicated only of age, time, 
growth, and an advanced spiritual life. Careful, 
constant faithfulness to God, is the only way in this 
world to a well-balanced, symmetrical, mature Chris- 
tian. Purity affords a growth unobstructed in every 
direction within the soul. Though the soul may 
have to maintain the assaults of enemies without — a 
defensive warfare, which is often quite difficult and 
aggressive ; all is peaceful and friendly within. 

It ought to be clear to every child of God, that 



CHRISTIAN MA TURITY. 199 

after the Holy Ghost has cleansed the soul — accom- 
plished the negative part of salvation — He can carry 
forward his positive work of enlightenment and enrich- 
ment, adornment and endowment with love and power, 
more easily and with less obstruction than ever 
before, — the death of sin giving free scope to the life 
of righteousness. 

In the purified soul, the volume of love is more 
deep, strong and steady than is possible in a mixed 
moral state. Then it burns a flame, diffusing itself 
through the entire man, illuminating and sweetening 
the spirit, giving energy to the will, and refreshing 
and blessing the soul at every step in the path of 
duty. In this condition the soul will love and glow, 
expand and mature amid all the crosses and fluctua- 
tions of life. " When the embarrassments are thus 
removed out of the soul itself, (says Dr. Luther 
Lee), progress will be more rapid, every virtue may 
increase in strength and brightness." — Lee's Theology, 
p. 25. 

The regenerate and the fully sanctified grow in 
grace exactly alike : they gather strength, increase in 
knowledge, and develop and mature in the graces of 
the new man in Christ, received in regeneration. In 
the merely regenerate state this growth is greatly 
hindered, and is much less steady and healthy ; while 
in the purified heart, all obstructions having been 



200 CHRISTIAN MATURITY. 

removed, all spiritual disease healed, there is more 
ample space for the Christian graces to grow and 
flourish. Thus it is that after purification, growth is 
less impeded, and more rapid, uniform and solid. 

By the cleansing power of Christ, and sanctified 
habit, all the tendency of our nature becomes as 
steadily and strongly to virtue, obedience and piety, 
as it formerly was towards sin. 

Furthermore, experience has shown that the ele- 
ments of holiness planted in the regenerate soul, 
cannot be fully developed without purifying grace, 
excluding all impurity. Faith, hope, love, patience, 
meekness, gentleness and the like can neither increase 
unobstructedly, nor be perfect in quality, without the 
cleansing blood washing all impurity from the soul. 

As we have stated, spiritual life emanating from 
the Holy Ghost, in its progressive power has no 
bounds, limits or dimensions, and the soul of man, 
the seat of this life, is endowed with powers and 
capacities capable of endless improvement and un- 
limited expansion. These powers and capabilities 
of the entirely sanctified increase or expand more 
rapidly than those of the unsanctified, as sin degen- 
erates, cripples and enervates; while holiness quickens, 
invigorates, and secures the best possible foundation 
for the development of all our powers and faculties. 



CHAPTER X. 
Results of Purity, or of its Neglect. 

fTlHE remains of pride, unbelief, and all the 
various lusts existing in the merely regenerate, 
struggle fearfully at times to regain their lost do- 
minion over the heart, and these inward conflicts 
with carnal nature, render it exceedingly difficult to 
retain the constant witness of our justification. 

With a pure heart, it is vastly more easy to live a 
Christian life, and retain the continuous witness of a 
justified state. 

Purity is spiritual freedom. "Whom the Son 
maketh free is free indeed" The intellect and 
spiritual vision are freed from darkness, vain imagi- 
nations, and high things which exalt themselves 
against the knowledge of God; the affections are 
freed from all forbidden or sordid objects; the con- 
science is freed from condemnation and dead works 
- — the guilt and power of sin, and the will is freed 
from all perversity and evil inclination. Thus, 
while grace does not necessitate the soul's action, it 
emancipates it from bondage, and makes obedience 
to God natural, delightful, and easy. 

I* 301 



202 RESULTS OF PURITY, 

The soul is brought into complete harmony with 
iUelfy and with God. The reason, the conscience, the 
will, the affections and emotions are no longer an- 
tagonized against each other, but with a harmonious 
concurrence move together in delightful obedience 
to Christ. God possessing all, and giving energy to 
all, the whole soul acts in accordance with his will. 
This is Gospel freedom in the fullest and highest 
sense. 

In the partially purified heart, in addition to all 
outside foes to the Christian life, there are deep- 
rooted inward evils, real, stirring, bosom foes. These 
are more troublesome and dangerous than all outward 
enemies. They often strive for the ascendancy. They 
interrupt the soul's peace. They obscure its spiritual 
vision. They are the instruments of sore temptation. 
They mar the Christian character. They obstruct 
communion with God. They cripple the soul's efforts 
to do good. They belong to Satan, and invariably 
side with him. They occupy a place in the heart 
which should be possessed by the Holy Spirit. They 
are the greatest hindrance to growth in grace, and 
render our service to God but partial : and thus they 
militate against the evidence of justification. Dear 
reader, these things ought not to be so ! Help has 
been laid upon one who is mighty, and who " is able 
to save them to the uttermost, who come unto the 
Father by him" 



OX OP ITS NEGLECT. 203 

Inbred sin is the fruitful source of more internal 
conflict, darkness, doubts, and uncertainty than all 
others combined. If purification resulted in nothing 
more than the removal of all these, by a greatly in- 
tensified state of all the great facts and essential 
items of justification and regeneration, it must be 
seen to be of great importance. 

God commands and requires us to be holy. He 
expects us to be really and positively holy — strictly 
and universally holy. "Be ye holy; for I am 

HOLY." 

He has opened the fountain for sin and for un- 
cleanness, but we ourselves must wash therein. It 
can never be done by proxy. All may not be able 
to attain a high degree of knowledge and wisdom. 
All may not be polished, or equally cultivated, but 
all may wash and be clean : the poor and the rich, 
the learned and the illiterate, the ignorant and the 
intelligent, the weak and the strong, can alike, by 
simply trusting Christ, know that his blood cleanseth 
them from all sin. The means and conditions of 
purity are within the reach of all ; but they will 
never remove a single stain from any soul, unless 
applied to, or complied with. If we do not seek 
holiness, and are not made pure and God-like, we 
disobey him. How can we be disobedient, and 
grieve the Holy Spirit, without displeasing God, 



204 RESULTS OF PURITY, 

forfeiting the witness of the Spirit, and the 
light of justification ? Mr. Wesley says, " The wit- 
ness of the Spirit is inevitably destroyed, not only 
by the commission of outward sin, or the omission of 
known duty, but by giving way to any inward sin ; in 
a word, by whatever grieves the Holy Spirit of 
God." — Sermons, vol. i. p. 94. 

Not to be, what we can, and ought to be, is an 
offence against God. "To him that knoweth to do 
good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" 

Living in a partially purified state in the light of 
Gospel provision, must be displeasing to God. Alas ! 
what sad work this course is producing upon multi- 
tudes in all our churches ! what coldness ! what dark- 
ness ! what weakness ! and what death ! 

Bishop Foster says, " The believer is under obli- 
gation to possess all, to the last degree, of that which 
he may possess in Christ. Present possibility of 
holiness determines present duty of holiness." — 
Christian Purity, p. 21. 

Dr. D. W. C. Huntington says, — "Thousands 
among us have fallen below their early covenant with 
God, and have really no more expectation of ceas- 
ing to sin, than they have of being transfigured. 
The turning point with the mass of these, was when 
they gave up the expectation of being made perfect 
in this life." 



OR OF ITS NEGLECT, 205 

Dr. John Dempster says — " While it is true that 
no believer is lost, and that none with impurity is 
saved, it is equally true that no one retains his jus- 
tification, and dies without sanctification. Apostasy 
or purity is the only possible alternative after regen- 
eration. This is the germ and pledge of that/' — 
Sermon before Biblical Institute. 

No man can fully obey God, without seeking 
holiness, or without being " cleansed from all sin." 
Mr. Fletcher says, — "So long as your heart con- 
tinues partly unrenewed, your life will be partly 
unholy." "To voluntarily omit holiness, (says 
Bishop Peck) in desire, in prayer, in the strivings of 
the heart, would be disobedience, and hence real 
apostasy." Reconciliation with the existence of in- 
bred sin in our hearts, is the very way to forfeit our 
justification. 

Dr. Stephen Olin says, — " Doubtless God's will is 
even our sanctification, and we offend no less againsj 
our own highest interests than against his most 
gracious designs when we rest below the best at- 
tainable position in religion." — Letter to J. R. Olin H 

This impurity, tolerated and harbored, has brought 
many a man into bondage who had run well for z 
season. Hence it should be preached as clearly and 
faithfully as the wickedness and guilt of human 
actions. The uncleanness — the pollution of sin, is 



206 RESULTS OF PURITY, 

to be seen as clearly as the guilt of sin. Both 
demand clear presentation in ministerial instruction ; 
and salvation from each sought by divine pardon, 
and by cleansing. 

Multitudes are hindered by the mistaken idea 
that purity is difficult to retain and easily lost. Just 
as if the difficulty of retaining religion increases with 
the measure of it we obtain. It would be just as 
sensible to caution people against becoming rich, lest 
it should lead them to bankruptcy; or to caution 
people against seeking health, lest it should make 
them sick. The truth is, the more religion we 
possess, the easier to get more, and to keep what we 
get. The greatest danger to piety is a low 7 

STATE OF PIETY. 

The objection, so often heard against this doctrine 
and experience, — the misconduct of some who have 
proclaimed it, we regard as unworthy of any Chris- 
tian man ; possessing neither argument nor piety to 
commend it. Its spirit and animus are fearfully like 
Satan, whose most sophistical and continuous assaults 
against Christianity have always been the wicked 
conduct of many of its professed friends. Surely 
this is the devil's work, as no sensible man will 
either refuse to embrace, nor abandon a good cause 
because of the failings of its advocates. Such a 
course would result in the rejection of everything 
noble and excellent, to say nothing of Christianity. 



OR OF ITS NEGLECT. 207 

A pure heart differs vitally from an impure one. 
In purification there is a positive refining wrought 
by the cleansing energy of the Holy Ghost, and 
without this refining, there is a serious deficiency in 
our holiness. 

There is a kind of holiness, (so-called) in these 
times, which may be suspected, as very much a 
human affair: a kind of intellectual assent to cer- 
tain propositions, which fail to reach the necessities 
of human depravity, on the one side, or the Bible 
description of true holiness on the other. The 
work is superficial, and has manifestly too much of 
earthly origin. It bears more the impress of the 
human, than of the divine; while true holiness is of 
divine origin, and bears the impress of heaven. To 
be " cleansed from sin," — " crucified with Christ," — 
" dead to the world," and " pure in heart," involves 
more than a mere sickly sentimentalism. Anything 

ELSE RATHER THAN A SUPERFICIAL SANCTIFICA- 
TION. 

Human activities respond to, and correspond with 
the state of the soul, and all defects of character 
originate there. A man can bear fruit only accord- 
ing to the moral quality of his heart, — the govern- 
ing principle of his soul. We make a fair and safe 
estimate of a man when we judge him according to 
the uniform temper and action of his life. We 



208 RESULTS OF PURITY, 

know ourselves by consciousness. We know others 
by their fruits. In the realm of nature, phenomena 
reveal to us substances. In the same manner mind 
is known, and moral phenomena proclaim our moral 
state. 

If our heart is not wholly purified, its corrupt 
streams will flow through our lives. All pride, 
vanity, and evil tempers proceed from the undes- 
troyed carnality of the heart. 

The expressions of virtue from a cleansed heart, 
are the fruit of a pure nature, and not the unnatural 
and forced results of other causes. In purification 
the soul is relieved of its inherent bias — a pro- 
pensity to sin, which hinders obedience to God, and 
wars against a holy life. This remaining carnality 
must exist in opposition to the will of God; he 
having made such ample provision for its destruc- 
tion. It must be displeasing to him, as its existence 
involves distrust of the power of Christ, mars our 
Christian character, and weakens our spiritual life. 

Dr. L. T. Townsend says of sanctification, " It is 
one for which the regenerated should constantly pray 
and ceaselessly strive, and is, from its nature, attainable 
at any point in the regenerated man's experience." — 
Outline Series. 

Bishop Hedding says, u It is as important that 
you should experience this holy work as it is that the 
sinner to whom you preach should be converted/'" 



OR OF ITS NEGLECT. 209 

"Should it be objected (says Rev. John Fletcher), 
that, at this rate, no Christian is safe till he has 
obtained Christian perfection; we reply, that all 
Christian believers are safe, who either stand in it, or 
press after it. And IF they do neither, we are 
prepared to prove that they rank among fallen 

BELIEVERS." 

Purity tends greatly to establish our Christian 
character, and root and ground us on the Rock of 
Ages. It will save from the avoidable faults and 
sins of which we have so often to mourn, and from 
a halting, vacillating course so common. It will en- 
large our spiritual apprehension of the presence of 
God. It will secure such an experimental realiza- 
tion of the grand saving power of the Gospel, as 
will greatly magnify the grace of God, and make our 
religious life a constant luxury. How rich! and 
how blessed this unmixed, and powerfully intensi- 
fied experience ! How glorious to realize the great 
cardinal truths, facts and blessed verities of our holy 
Christianity, as solid, precious, heart-felt realities ! 

There is a vast difference between the dim, 
dreamy, visionary, unfelt, and imperfect spiritual ap- 
prehensions of multitudes ; and the clear, evangelical, 
spiritual vision of the fully sanctified soul. O this 
" walking in the light," (in the light of truth and 
spiritual things) " as God is in the light," how de- 
lightful ! how inspiring ! how blessed ! 



210 RESULTS OF PURITY, 

Purity will give weight and spiritual power to 
our words, invitations, and pious efforts. It will 
make Christian work natural and easy ; indeed, the 
purified heart can feel at home in nothing else, it 
being more than its meat and drink to do the will 
of God. Purity wrought in the heart rectifies the 
constitution and character of man, as a moral being j 
which is precisely what the Gospel designs to ac- 
complish, and what, in hundreds of thousands of in- 
stances, it has proved itself capable of effecting — re- 
storing man's nature to its pristine purity and love. 

Purity is the normal condition of the soul. It is 
a state in exact adjustment to the divine plans, so 
that His influence and Spirit may pour through it, 
and pervade it in every part. This position will 
secure the maximum of the best possible efforts in 
every man and woman possessing it, and the greatest 
success possible in the nature of things ; and is the 
power which is sooner or later to conquer this world 
to God. 

Bishop Simpson said at Bound Lake, — " We are 
put here in this world to work for God, and for this 
work we need preparation. Take an iron tool that 
has become rusty and is unfit for use. You must 
remove the rust before it is fit for use. So God 
would take us and bum up the dross of sin, and 
cleanse us by the blood of Jesus, and then we are 
ready to work for him." 



OR OF ITS NEGLECT. 211 

Purification will remove all our inclined alienation 
from God, all aversion to a holy life. It will secure 
the subjugation and right use of human passions, so 
that they become " instruments of righteousness." 
While the passions are not destroyed, they may be 
cleansed from the dross of sin, and regulated and 
held within the bounds of their legitimate functions, 
under the reign of grace. 

Purity will secure the abiding residence of the 
Holy Spirit in the heart, without a rival, and will 
make our growth in grace universal, uniform, and 
constant In outward life and morality the regenerate 
and the wholly purified are the same; but, in the 
depth of their devotion, in the steadiness of their 
zeal, in the cheerfulness of their resignation, in the 
sweetness of their spirit, in the perfection of their 
love, and in the completeness of their devotion and 
purity, they widely differ. 

A pure heart will sanctify the tongue, and nothing 
else can. As long as Christians live in a partially 
purified state, we shall see the inconsistency of "pro- 
ceeding out of the same mouth blessing and cursing." 
" My brethren, these things ought not so to be : doth 
a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water 
and bitter ? " The heart governs the tongue by a 
law of necessity. Jesus said, — " How can ye being 
evil speak good things ? " The way, and only way, 



212 RESULTS OF PURITY, 

to cure an unruly tongue is to have tlie heart cleansed. 
The tongue was made to give utterance to the heart's 
abundance, and it will. The conversation will har- 
monize with that which has the chief, place in our 
thoughts, affections, hopes and sympathies. If the 
heart be in a peaceful, trustful, charitable frame, the 
conversation will be pure and sweet The Saviour 
only affirmed a natural law, when he declared, that 
"out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh." If the heart be pure, charitable and 
good, the conversation cannot be worldly, uncharitable 
and wicked. 

When all impurity is washed from the soul, there 
is an end of "blessing and cursing/' of "sweet 
water and bitter " flowing from the same heart. 

u Unto the pure, all things are pure : but unto them 
that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing puke, 
but even their mind and conscience is defiled" — 
Titus i. 15. The doctrine of this scripture is, that 
the streams must be pure, or polluted ; according as 
the fountain is pure or corrupt. An unsanctified, 
selfish, unbelieving heart, will pervade the life and 
conversation. Human life, in respect to virtue or 
vice, is always in harmony with the moral state of 
the heart ; and in God's view, is neither better nor 
worse than that. 

Our actions are sometimes performed with so little 



OR OF ITS NEGLECT. 213 

thought, as to resemble action from instinct. They 
are not less responsible on that account. Habit, 
unlike instinct, is subject to the control of the will, 
graciously assisted of God ; and no unconscious vo- 
lition by its power is free from virtue or vice. 
Obedience is not less virtuous because it springs 
from sanctified habit, or from being "rooted and 
grounded in love?' Sin is not less offensive to God 
because it springs from wicked habits, or uniformity 
of vicious action. 

There are many in all our churches, who as 
Christians merely exist, in whose hearts the fire of 
God's love burns but dimly. These need purity. 
There are many, very many who give no signs of 
religious progress or growth in grace, who have been 
for years members of the Church, and are seriously 
dwarfed in their religious life. These need purity. 
There are thousands of converts, who realize a great 
moral deficiency ; who are conscious of the want of 
something more, and are in a dissatisfied, doubtful state 
of mind. These all need purity. 

There are great multitudes, who feel the need of 
spiritual evangelical power to work for God ; and we 
have thousands and thousands of church members 
who are doing comparatively nothing to build up 
the Church of God and save wicked men from hell. 
These need both pardon and purity. 



214 RESULTS OF PURITY, 

There are hundreds of ministers, who are fearfully 
inefficient and lacking in pulpit power. These all 
need purity. Many of our sixty thousand class 
leaders are cold, formal, and inefficient, and it is 
not too strong to say, — the one great pressing neces- 
sity of the Church is purity. 

With many, the great problem appears to be, not 
how holy I can be ; not how I can best exemplify 
the life of Christ; not how I can bring my own 
heart and all other hearts into the most complete 
conformity to the will of God : but how much may 
I conform to the world, and not lose my hope, or 
Christian reputation? How much like the world 
may I live, and still be a respectable church 
member, and not forfeit my heirship to heaven ? 

Efforts to work out this problem, is having an 
unhappy influence upon the practical Christianity of 
this age. It is so modifying and moulding the 
sentiments and practices of many, very many pro- 
fessed Christians, that they bear only a remote re- 
semblance to the sentiments and practices of the 
Apostolic Church. 

Hence, the way to heaven, instead of becoming 
more easy, as men have sought to make it, has been 
rendered vastly more perilous. This to the really 
wise, and deeply spiritual, is becoming more and 
more apparent. 



OR OF ITS NEGLECT. 215 

Ours is an age of deep, insidious, Satanic operation. 
Some of the most spiritual duties and exercises of 
true religion, such as closet devotion, searching one's 
heart, self-denial, self-abasing penitence before God, 
and abstinence and fasting, have become old-fashioned, 
not to say obsolete; and precisely those parts of 
worship, and items of truth are retained which 
serve to excite and amuse the sensibilities, without 
stirring up the foul depths of the heart's corruption. 

We have plenty of sentimental music, and senti- 
mental preaching. We have a brilliant display of 
rhetoric and taste in descanting upon everything 
magnificent, or in any way entertaining. But how 
many occupying the sacred place, "cry aloud and 
spare not," and lift up their voice like a trumpet to 
" show Jacob their transgressions, and Israel their 
sins " ? There are many such, we know, and God 
be praised ! — but are there not far too many who 
pursue a different c&urse ? Reader, these are not the 
dreamings of a morbid fancy, or the suggestions of 
an uncharitable judgment. Would they were either, 
rather than the painful truth. 

We are joyfully aware that many precious excep- 
tions do exist ; that there are many thousands, true 
and faithful, and the number increasing, who do not 
bow the knee to Baal ; who love the Church, and 
who would bear a baptism of blood for her, if need 



216 RESULTS OF PURITY, 

be. Still, there are facts before our minds, to prompt, 
and press, and push the questions — How many pro- 
fessed Christians participate with the ungodly in 
vain amusements? How many follow, and how 
many even lead in extravagant worldly display in 
fashions of dress and equipage f How many do 
business on principles which could not stand a 
moment in the light of Bible morality ? — " Love thy 
neighbor as thyself" 

How many are utter strangers to communion with 
God ? Has not the love of Christ in many — alas ! 
in very many — waxed grievously cold f How many 
in all our churches are without the witness of the 
Spirit to their Divine acceptance ? How many will 
not endure plain dealing in the pulpit, or a faithful 
rebuke of their sins ; and would not employ or sit 
under a preacher, whose heart is really set on their 
repentance and holy life ? And further, how many 
even of the ministry, have fearfully conformed to 
these demands, and appear ready to preach smooth 
things, and avoid those unpalatable — however low 
the faith and spiritual life in the churches they serve ? 
These items lie with painfully oppressive weight upon 
many hearts, as they are seen, more or less, in every 
direction. 

The rising tide of worldliness sweeping round our 
churches demands purity. O, for pure ministers ! 



OR OF ITS NEGLECT. 217 

pure principles ! pure sermons ! pure tempers ! pure 
habits ! and pure lives ! " The time has come (says 
Bishop Foster) when we need to ascend, to pass up 
to a higher, healthier y and purer experience" 

How strange that purity of heart should be ne- 
glected and even disclaimed, while purity in other 
respects is insisted on. All are in favor of pure 
water, pure air, pure food, and pure friendship. 
While it is demanded physically, socially, and po- 
litically, shall it be disclaimed or neglected in moral 
and spiritual things? — in things of chief im- 
portance ? 

It is needed to cure vacillation, and establish be- 
lievers in their Christian life : every inward foe 
being destroyed by the great power of God, they 
may walk steadily in the way of God's command- 
ments, and be " mighty through God to the pulling 
down of strongholds." 

How can faith increase in strength and volume 
when we are doubting much of the time ? How can 
humility acquire a greater depth and permanency 
while we are the subjects of more or less pride? 
How can patience have her " perfect work " while 
we are restless and fretful under opposition and 
trial ? How can love be perfect, or increase in in- 
tensity and power while the " carnal mind " is un- 
destroyed ? 



218 RESULTS OF PURITY, 

"No virtue can grow to perfection, (says Dr. F. 
G. Hibbard) side by side with its opposite vice. 
How can humility grow with pride? How can 
holy affections grow in the heart with cherished 
covetousness, love of human praise, love of worldly 
pleasures? How far will a Christian advance in 
twenty years towards perfect resignation to all the 
will of God, and perfect love for that divine will, 
while every day he gratifies self, by refusing uncon- 
ditional submission, and in some matters cherishes 
self-will ? . . . There is onJIy one way, brethren, one 
only way, be whole-hearted, be cleansed from sin, and 
let the plants of righteousness have room to grow in 
your heart" — N. C. Advocate. 

Any degree of the carnal mind, which " is enmity 
against God," is a hindrance to our doing the will of 
"God perfectly, hence the necessity of its destruction. 
And this is the lowest point to which any Christian 
should aim. When this is gained, there is enough 
for us still to do, and to gain, growing in grace, and 
in the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ our 
Lord, 



CHAPTER XI. 
A Synopsis. 

TN this chapter we will give a summary of the 
most important truths presented in the foregoing 
pages. 

1. Man by reason of sin, original and actual, has 
become both guilty and polluted, is under condemna- 
tion and possessed of inbred corruption. 

2. God, in the economy of grace, in great love 
removes the guilt of sin by pardon ; and the defile- 
ment of sin by cleansing power. The one is an act 
of divine mercy done for us, and the other is a work 
of grace wrought in us. He neither pardons corrup- 
tion, nor cleanses guilt. 

3. Pardon and purity are the two great, prominent 
facts in human salvation. The one removing the 
guilt of sin, secures our title to heaven; the other 
removing the defilement of sin, secures our prepara- 
tion for it. 

4. Sin, properly speaking, and depravity are dis- 
tinct, and are not to be identified in our views of 
truth and Christian privilege. Sin involves moral 
action ; is " the transgression of the law." Depravity 

219 



220 A SYNOPSIS. 

is a state or condition of the soul caused by original, 
and augmented by actual sin. 

5. Justification, which is an act of God's mercy 
removing all the guilt of sin, is accompanied by re- 
generating grace, in which spiritual life is imparted 
to the soul, and is attended by divine adoption, 
whereby we become the children of God. 

6. Regeneration, which is the same as the new 
birth, is incipient purity. 

7. The justified and regenerate state does not 
admit of the commission of sin, but does of remain- 
ing depravity or the rudiments of inbred sin, which 
necessitates a further cleansing. 

8. Christian purity in its evangelical sense, is a 
state of heart in which all the virtues composing a 
real Christian exist unmixed, exclusive of all 
opposition. 

9. Christian perfection, predicated of the purified 
soul, is modified and relative. There is a wide 
difference between unfallen Adam in Eden, and a 
Christian pardoned and purified. 

10. The sense in which the entirely sanctified soul 
is perfect, is in moral quality ; it is " free from sin," 
or " pure in heart.^ 

11. In degree, all perfection in creatures must be 
modified by their capacity, and is susceptible of 
indefinite increase. 



A SYNOPSIS. 221 

12. Personal purity may consist with compara- 
tively small spiritual power ; though perfect in 
quality, it may be quite limited in quantity, propor- 
tionate to capacity. 

13. Purification is a special work of God, distinct 
from regeneration on the one side, and from Chris- 
tian maturity on the other. 

14. That regeneration and entire sanctification 
are identical and take place at the same time, is 
contrary to the whole doctrinal teachings of Chris- 
tianity with hardly an exception for nearly two 
thousand years. 

15. The regenerate soul possesses all the essential 
features of the new life, with the essence and prin- 
ciple of true holiness; but has it in a nature not 
fully cleansed from indwelling sin. 

16. Spiritual life and the graces of the Spirit exist 
in the purified heart without antagonism — in ex- 
clusion of all internal opposition. 

17. Inborn and acquired depravity are antago- 
nistic, and the opposite of indwelling and acquired 
righteousness. The former is inherent, and derived 
from Adam. The latter is inwrought, and derived 
from Christ through faith. 

18. The mixed moral condition of the merely re- 
generate, implies no combination, or composition of 
grace and indwelling sin. The spiritual and the 
carnal have no fellowship. 



222 A SYNOPSIS. 

19. In the justified and regenerate state, grace has 
dominion, and remaining indwelling sin is subjected 
and repressed ; not tolerated, or allowed; but hated, 
resisted, mourned over and kept under. 

20. Depravity does not involve guilt until it is 
assented to, yielded to, or cherished. We are not 
responsible for its original possession ; but are for 
its continuance in the light of Gospel provision for 
its destruction. 

21. The sin remaining in the regenerate believer, 
not entirely sanctified, is not sin strictly speaking, 
which is any " transgression of the law " incurring 
guilt ; but depravity — an inherited, inborn, sin- 
ward inclination, — a depraved bias. 

22. The distinction between regeneration and 
entire sanctification is not a difference of committing 
sin or otherwise. It is not so much a distinction in 
the outward life, as in the inward experience. 

23. Neither the regenerate, nor the entirely sanc- 
tified can commit sin, without standing condemned 
before God ; as every item of his law, mandatory or 
prohibitory, is binding as much on the partially 
purified, as on the entirely purified. 

24. The subjugation of depravity is not its destruc- 
tion, or removal. In regeneration it is subjugated, 
while in sanctification it is exterminated. 

25. Christian purity is not obtained by the ordi- 



A SYNOPSIS. 223 

nary process of growth in grace ; but by the cleans- 
ing power of the blood of Christ. 

26. Growth in grace will afford a more complete, 
uninterrupted, and easy victory over inbred sin; 
also, it will secure increasing light, increasing 
strength, and the development more or less, of all 
the positive fruits of the Spirit. 

27. Growth in grace is the development of the 
positive in Christian life, — the graces of the Spirit; 
but not a process of cleansing or washing, refining or 
purging, mortification or death. 

28. There is no power in growth or development to 
purify the heart. Inborn depravity cannot be im- 
perceptibly grown out or outgrown. 

29. The Scriptures nowhere teach, that the 
gradual advances of the Christian step by step, are 
attended with a gradual cleansing of the heart, 
stain after stain, until all impurity is gone. 

30. As our inherent and original sinfulness w T as 
derived from Adam ; so our inwrought purification, — 
our personal holiness, must be derived from, and 
wrought in us by Jesus Christ our second Adam. 

31. Sanctification, like regeneration, is a super- 
natural, instantaneous work; and not a human, 
gradual work. Both are God's work. Both are 
instantaneous. Both involve human agency, and 
yet neither are accomplished by secondary or natural 
causes. 



224 A SYNOPSIS. 

32. In purification the soul is passive, is the 
subject, and not the agent of the cleansing. It is 
active and co-operative with what precedes and what 
follows the cleansing; but the cleansing is something 
experienced, and not something done. 

33. Secondary causes, as means of grace may help 
us to God, and aid us in reaching the conditions of 
the divine work ; but the work itself is wrought by 
the Holy Spirit. 

34. Growth in grace has no fixed relation to 
purity, and a believer cannot grow pure, on the same 
principle that a sinner can not grow into a saint; 
growth not changing the nature of things. 

35. All the changes made by growth, or gradual 
processes are in size or quantity, and not in kind or 
quality. Purity pertains to quality, growth to size, or 
quantity. 

36. That which is pure, or that which is impure 
may grow; and mere growth does not change the 
one or the other, only in size or quantity. 

37. Anything impure is made clean by washing, 
refining, or purging, and not by growth. 

38. Retrenchment, pruning, and lopping off ex- 
crescences of the outer life (though all proper and 
necessary) purify no man's nature. Trimming a 
tree, or enriching the soil, never changes the nature 
of its fruit. 



A SYNOPSIS. 225 

39. Inbred sin is an evil principle infecting every 
unsanctified soul, and its essential nature can not be 
changed. It is opposition to God, and must be 
destroyed. 

40. Until the living principle of grace is im- 
planted in the soul at regeneration, no sinner 
becomes a Christian ; and until the remaining oppos- 
ing principle of inbred sin is removed from the 
regenerate heart, no Christian is entirely sanctified. 

41. Growth in grace is essentially the same before 
and after entire sanctification. In the former, the 
reign of grace is somewhat limited ; in the latter, its 
dominion is unlimited, by enemies in the soul. 

42. The atoning blood of Christ is the meritorious 
source of purity. Faith in that blood is its con- 
ditional cause. The word of God is its instrumental 
cause, while the Holy Ghost is its efficient agent 

43. All the Bible figures given to enjoin and 
illustrate purity imply rapidity and dispatch, and 
teach a short } rapid work. 

44. The Scriptures give the same encouragement 
to faith in the purifying efficacy of the blood of 
Christ, that they do for faith in his pardoning mercy 
and adopting love. Alike they are the free, unmerited 
gift and work of God. 

45. Experience teaches that man is as positively 

saved from the pollution of sin by faith in the cleans- 
j* 



226 A SYNOPSIS. 

ing blood of Christ; as that he is saved from the 
guilt of sin, by faith in the pardoning mercy of God. 

46. A great multitude of as devoted Christians as 
have ever lived, have given testimony to an instan- 
taneous cleansing, sought as a distinct blessing, 
received by faith, and wrought by the Holy Ghost, 
— the same as their regeneration. 

47. Faith is rest, repose, and not effort, and is not 
difficult when the soul is in a condition or attitude to 
believe : when it has let go its hold of all other 
dependencies, then faith is well-nigh spontaneous. 

48. The proximate condition of faith is entire con- 
secration, which includes the renunciation of all sin, 
entire submission to God, and approval of all his 
known will. 

49. Seeking purity by a gradual process of imper- 
ceptible growth, is equivalent to its indefinite post- 
ponement. 

50. Purity, being by faith, is instantaneous — not 
necessarily in " the twinkling of an eye " — but 
instantaneous as a birth or death, a, washing or refin- 
ing; a short, rapid work, like regeneration. 

51. The approach to purification may be gradual, 
analogous to the approach, to regeneration. 

52. The figures understood by some to teach a 
gradual purification, are given by Inspiration to 
teach growth in grace, development, and maturity, 



A SYNOPSIS. 227 

and have no special reference to purity, which is 
enjoined and illustrated by another class of figures. 

53. God does not accomplish by cleansing power 
that which is secured by growth in grace. On the 
other hand, growth in grace cannot effect the work 
of the creating energy of the Almighty Spirit. 

54. The destruction of inbred sin, and growth in 
holiness are not identical. One is instantaneous, the 
other is gradual. 

55. Growth, purity, and maturity being distinct 
should not be identified. 

56. Pardon, life, adoption, and purity represent 
the definite, instantaneous, and supernatural in re- 
ligious experience. "Children," "young men," 
" fathers," and " perfect men," represent the indefinite 
and gradual, — growth and development. 

57. Christian maturity is necessarily comparative 
and indefinite ; a gradual, progressive process, involv- 
ing years of growth, cultivation, and enlargement. 

58. Purity is the condition of the most rapid, 
uniform, and unobstructed growth in grace ; hence, ' 
it is the greatest help to maturity, and impurity its 
chief hindrance. 

59. Identifying and confounding purity with 
maturity, lies at the base of nearly every objection 
to an instantaneous purification. 

60. Holiness is not maturity, which is largely a 



228 A SYNOPSIS. 

subsequent attainment, subject to the laws of growth, 
involving years of time, and an advanced religious 
life. 

61. A babe in Christ, by cleansing power, may 
become a pure Christian at once ; but that does not 
constitute him a mature Christian. Christians are 
not cleansed into maturity y nor do any grow into 
purity. 

62. There are " babes/' " young men," and " men 
of full age," in a state of purity, and purity in its 
infancy should be distinguished from purity matured, 
as an advanced, established, and confirmed state of 
purity — " rooted and grounded in love." 

63. The soul may be pure while it is immature , and 
millions of Christians die in immaturity and are 
saved ; maturity not being the condition of admit- 
tance to heaven. 

64. Regarding purity and maturity as distinct in 
nature and process, relieves this subject of difficulties 
which have perplexed multitudes of good men. 

65. Spiritual life emanating from the Holy Ghost, 
has no bounds, limits or dimensions ; and the soul, 
the seat of this life, is endowed with powers and 
capacities susceptible of unlimited expansion. 

66. After the soul is made pure, it may grow, and 
develop ak the positive graces of the Spirit, increas- 
ing in love, knowledge and power forever. 



A SYNOPSIS. 229 

67. Indwelling sin, remaining in the heart, war- 
ring against purity and religion, is in opposition to 
the will of God. Having made provision for its re- 
moval, its continuance involves distrust of his power 
and faithfulness, as well as a violation of his require- 
ments. 

68. Tolerating and harboring inbred sin, or 
neglecting to seek its destruction, has brought many 
a man into bondage, and is the fruitful source of 
many grievous apostasies. 

69. Christian holiness is a matter of positive, con- 
scious experience within the reach of all believers ; 
being sufficiently plain for all to understand, low 
enough for all to reach, and not so great as to forbid 
a reasonable confession. 

70. Purity is the great necessity of the Christian 
Church, in promoting her safety, evangelical power, 
and practical efficiency in converting and bringing 
this world to Christ. In this is her strength ! her 
mission ! and her glory ! "With it, her triumph is 
certain ! Without it, she will suffer deplorable re- 
verses, involving the ruin of millions 1 



CONCLUSION. 

T TRUST, the reader has not found much on the 
foregoing pages that is objectionable, or that has 
not commended itself to his judgment, as truth, duty, 
or Christian privilege. This subject has been 
greatly misunderstood. When correctly presented, 
Christian purity is seen to possess none of the for- 
bidding features, so often attributed to it by its mis- 
taken opponents. 

How clearly taught ! how beautifully illustrated, 
and how amply sustained by the word of God, is 
purity of heart ! The Bible is full of it. 

As a Church, this has been our mission, our strength, 
and our glory ! Our standards of doctrine are full 
of it ! And how full our Hymn Book and Discip- 
line! How persistently, patiently, and faithfully 
John Wesley preached it ! How beautifully Charles 
Wesley incorporated it into his poetry, and how 
gloriously millions have sung it ! How completely 
John Fletcher refuted those who wrote against it; 
and how fragrant his life with its sweetness and 
devotion to God ! 

O, that our hearts were filled with it! Having 

230 



CONCLUSION. 231 

it nicely fixed in our creed, Hymn Book, Discipline, 
and Biographies ; may God help us to have it 
wrought in our hearts ; if it is not, these will rise in 
the judgment to condemn us, who aro living so far 
beneath our acknowledged privilege and duty. 

The Bible system of divine mercy and human 
salvation, makes no allowance for any sin, but 
ample provision for its destruction. Gospel salva- 
tion, is salvation from sin, never salvation in sin. 

Nothing can answer as a substitute for personal 
purity; no able ministry, no imposing church 
architecture, no splendid music, no exterior append- 
ages, or forms, or ceremonies can take its place. No 
measure of benevolence, no fasting or mortification 
can be its substitute. These have no intrinsic 
power in themselves to purify our hearts. They 
are valuable only as means of grace, to lead us to 
Christ, the fountain of cleansing. 

It is not members, nor fine churches, nor ecclesi- 
astical polity, nor theological schools, nor ritual, that 
constitutes the saving power of the Church. These 
may be well enough in their place; but after all, in 
her purity is her true power. Every Christian 
Church is powerful, (other circumstances being 
equal) proportioned to her internal purity. Simple 
goodness — purity of life and conversation will yield 
a power for God, with which genius, education and 



232 CONCLUSION. 

wealth without purity can never compete. All ex- 
perience teaches that holiness and religious prosperity 
are joined together, and there can be no substitute 
for it. 

We must be pure, and made " partakers of the 
divine nature." We have been made partakers of the 
" earthly, sensual, and devilish ; " and the design of 
the Gospel is to destroy this, and deliver us from all 
the impurities and sinfulness of our degenerate state. 
There are no wounds, defilement, or disease, made by 
sin in the soul of man, which grace cannot heal. 
Though ten thousand times ten thousand have 
washed away their pollutions in the blood of Christ, 
the fountain of cleansing has lost none of its purify- 
ing efficacy. 

Dr. Guthrie most beautifully says — " To-day the 
great sea, where go the ships, after receiving for long 
ages into its capacious bosom the mud and ruin, the 
decay and death of a thousand rivers, is as pure as 
when its billows first broke their snowy heads on the 
shores of our new born-world." 

The cleansing efficacy of the atoning blood re- 
mains forever the same, and it is at our option, 
whether we avail ourselves of it. If purified, it is 
because we choose to have it done, and trust Christ 
to do it ; if not, it is because we choose not to em- 
brace the provided remedy. This purification is to 



CONCLUSION. 233 

be secured in this life. It is the Christian's business 
to be ready at any moment to enter heaven. We 
must be actually and positively holy. Before we can 
enter heaven, in nature, in purity we must be a com- 
plete, finished Christian, free from sin or depravity. 
This constitutes the only preparation for Paradise. 
The work is to be accomplished here, in this world, 
now, not in death, not in the grave, not in Heaven. 
Purity is to be wrought in the Church militant some 
time between regeneration and death. Regeneration 
not being of itself a complete deliverance from inbred 
sin, this purification must take place before we go 
hence. 

We are all under the most imperative obligation 
to be holy. Our Christian name, our baptismal 
vows, our profession of faith in Christ, and belief in 
his word, all call us to be holy. In true repentance 
we forsake all sin, and in our Church relations a 
profession of real sanctity is proclaimed. If we are 
not pure in heart, it is our own fault and reproach. 
To make us holy is the great design of Christianity. 
For this the Son of God bled and died. For this 
he ever lives to make intercession for us. Por this 
the Holy Spirit is given ; and to cleanse and save us 
from sin, is the sum and substance of His most 
gracious work. 

We have no louder, no more imperative call, than 



234 CONCLUSION. 

to holiness. By far the greater portion of the admoni- 
tions, warnings, and exhortations of the Bible are 
addressed to the professed children of God, enforcing 
this duty and privilege. 

Rev. Albert Barnes says, — "A man who has been 
redeemed by the blood of the Son of God should be 
pure. He who is an heir of life should be holy. 
He who is attended by celestial beings, and is soon 
— he knows not how soon — to be translated to 
heaven, should be holy. Are angels my attendants ? 
Then I should walk worthy of my companions. Am 
I soon to go and dwell with angels ? Then I should 
be pure. Are these feet soon to tread the courts of 
heaven? Is this tongue soon to unite with holy 
beings in praising God ? Are these eyes soon to look 
on the throne of eternal glory, and on the ascended 
Redeemer? Then these feet, and eyes, and lips 
should be pure and holy, and I should be dead to 
the world and live for heaven ! " 

" Holiness to the Lord " — should be our 
motto ! It should be inscribed on our under- 
standing, reason, judgment, memory, conscience, affec- 
tions, tempers, dispositions, desires, will, actions — 
every thing. Every thing should be done purely, 
religiously y as our duty to God, and to man, and to 
ourselves. Eating, drinking, buying, selling, reading, 
writing, study, recreation, society, conversation, em- 



CONCLUSION*. 235 

ployment, giving, receiving, voting, and legislating — 
all must be done to the glory of God. "And what- 
soever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of 
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father 
by him" 

To be really holy, is to be relatively holy, as 
husbands and wives, as parents and children, as 
masters and mistresses, as servants and subjects. 
Purity of heart, being a state pervasive of all our 
activities, will develop itself to the extent of its oppor- 
tunity in every direction. Hence, to be really holy, 
is to be universally holy % 

To simply retain the grace received at justification 
is not enough. We often hear persons praising God 
that they still retain a sense of his favor after having 
been converted ten or twenty years. This is right, 
but should this satisfy ? Ten or twenty years of 
privileges, means, and spiritual culture, and no result 
but bare existence! 

The Church must have aggressive power. This 
is the very condition of her life ; the fact upon which 
hangs the perpetuity of her existence. She must live 
by aggression if she live at all. She must encounter 
enemies, and live by conflict and victory, and must 

CONTINUE TO CONQUER OR DIE ! 

There must be regenerating and saving power ex- 
erted, and converts received, as she perpetuates herself 



236 CONCLUSION. 

only in this way. Therefore, there is an intimate 
connection between the purification of the Church and 
the conversion of the world. 

This grace is the great antidote to Catholicism. 
When the blood of Christ is applied through faith, 
and the soul is cleansed, then farewell to penances, 
pilgrimages, purgatory, indulgences, ablutions, 
masses, and the like. In the absence of purity the 
Church has always run into forms and ceremonies, 
into ignorance, superstition and death. It is no 
wonder Alphonsus Liquori, a Catholic writer, says 
that this doctrine of purity is " the trunk whence 
almost all the errors of the modern heretics spring." 

Christian Purity is what the Church needs to 
qualify her to carry forward her great work of regen- 
erating the world, in a manner commensurate with 
her numbers, her vast wealth, and her multiplied 
and increasing facilities and opportunities. It is 
needed to clothe our learned ministry with spiritual 
power, and fill our commodious and costly churches 
with sanctified believers and converted sinners. 

The Church numerically ought to duplicate her- 
self every year; and she would, if she were fully sanc- 
tified to God. Did each member of the Church se- 
cure the salvation of but one soul a year, in one year 
the Church would be doubled, in two years she would 
stand four to one, in three years eight to one, in four 



CONCLUSION 

years sixteen to one, in five years thirty-two to one, ancf 
in six years sixty -four to one ; and in less than seven 
years the world would be converted, and the 
millennial glory cover the whole earth. 

Bishop Janes asserts — " A holy Church would soon 
make a holy world ;" and Bishop Foster — " Let the 
Church attain to this, let Christians claim their 
privilege, and come up to the standard, and the 
world would be a speedy and easy conquest." 

Then, we say in all humanity ! and in all mercy! 
for God's and for Christ's sake ! let the whole 
Church, ministry and laity, Bishops, Editors, Doctors 
of divinity and all, hasten to the cleansing 
fountain. Then for the worloVs sake ! let us dis- 
miss our fears of making holiness a specialty — " a 
favorite object of pursuit" (Webster), and let the 
whole Church of God claim their privilege in Jesus, 
and do their duty at once! 

For this cause, dear reader, "I bow my knees 
unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom 
the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that 
he would grant you, according to the riches of his 
glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in 
the inner man ; that Christ may dwell in your heart 
by faith; that you being rooted and grounded in 
love, may be able to comprehend, with all saints, 
what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and 



238 CONCLUSION. 

height, and to know the love of Christ, which 
passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all 
the fullness ot God. Now unto Him that is able to 
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 
think, according to the power that worketh in us, 
unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus 
throughout all ages world without end." And 
"the God of peace, that brought again from the 
dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the 
sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 
make you perfect in every good work to do his will, 
working in you that which is well pleasing in his 
sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for 
sver and ever. AmenP 

Glory and dominion be unto the Lord Jesus Christ, 

For-ever and ever: 
Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come: 
The Almighty. Amen, 



THE END. 



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